Rebirth, Relive, Redo
by BlueNaruAngel21
Summary: Naruto has a chance to change his life. Rebirth. He has a chance to help those who he couldn't before. Relive. Can he make it threw or will it happen as it did before. Redo. Originally by RauruSan. Edit started on 11/29/09
1. Rebirth

"Wh…where am I?"

Those were the first words that came out of the young man's mouth. He was wandering around in a long, narrow corridor that seemed eerily familiar to him. As soon as he felt water between his toes, he knew exactly where he was.

"God dammit! Why the hell am I here?" Naruto yelled into the empty corridor.

He tried to recall what he did in order for him to be in his current situation, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything.

"Oh well, might as well get this over with." said Naruto as he walked aimlessly along hoping to find something.

"I wonder what that stupid fox wants now."

Naruto continued wandering down the halls until he came across a room with a big cage that had a paper in the center on the crease where the two doors of the gate meet with the kanji for 'seal' on it.

As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by a pair of glowing red eyes which seemed to stare him down with malevolent intent.

But Naruto just stared right back, not once flinching as the tension in the room increased tenfold.

"Why the hell did you call me here for, you stupid fox!" Naruto yelled at the great kitsune.

His only response was a pair of narrowing red eyes.

"Did you hear me at all? Or is your age finally catching up to you and making you deaf?" This statement caught the fox's attention.

"**Foolish mortal.**** You should mind your tongue when ****your**** addressing me!" **roared the great demon fox.

"**As for why you are here, you should ask yourself that question."**

Naruto was starting to get impatient.

"Listen, I don't have time for your stupid games. It's been a long time since I've needed you, and I'm not about to start asking you of all people for help."

The demon fox started laughing at this.

**"You obviously have no clue do you? How did I get stuck with a stupid mortal as my container?**

"Whatever, I don't have time for this!" Naruto said as he turned to leave.

He didn't go too far though, since Kyuubi quickly intervened.

"**Ok kit, listen up, I'll make this clear enough for you to understand. What is the last thing you remember?"**

Naruto thought long and hard about this.

"Well, the last thing I can remember is going to Sasuke's house with Sakura. Other than that, my mind is blank"

"**Well," **Kyuubi began, **"You guys did in fact go to his house, but when you got there, he was dead." **

After hearing this, Naruto's mind went into overdrive as he recalled everything that happened.

His mind flashed bits and pieces of him finding Sasuke dead on the floor with his throat slit and three cloud ninja standing over him then Sakura was coming up behind him asking what was wrong after that it was all black.

'Oh crap!' Naruto thought, 'I need to get out of here fast, Sakura might still need me.'

"**You don't have to worry about her,"** Kyuubi said, already knowing what was going on in Naruto's mind.

"**She made it out alive.** **As for you…let's just say you weren't as lucky. I made sure you spirit came here just before it happened. If you go back now, you will die."**

Naruto quickly focused all his attention toward the fox.

"WHAT!? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I'LL DIE!?"

"**That's exactly what I mean. You don't have a body anymore. You blew yourself up to save your stupid friend, remember? I swear, you mortals don't think twice before trying to be a hero."**

"So what now? Am I stuck here with you forever?" Naruto asked hoping that wasn't the result.

"**Actually, no. we only have about three more minutes before we truly depart to the next world, and I for one am not ready to die just yet."**

After hearing those words, Naruto couldn't help but let hope swell up inside him.

"So, do you have some sort of plan, right fox?" He said, excitement apparent in his voice.

Kyuubi smirked at this.

**"My my my, It appears my stupid container is actually thinking for once." **

All traces of hope suddenly left Naruto and were instead replaced with anger towards the Kyuubi.

"Well, we are on the clock, are you going to tell me your plan, or am I going to have to make you tell me."

Kyuubi snickered at this. **"You got guts kit, I'll give you that. If we weren't pressed for time, I would show you why I am the most feared of all demons! Ok, pay attention kit, because I won't repeat myself. I know a way to keep us both alive, but there is a drawback. The only way I can do this is if I send your spirit to a time when you where younger."**

Naruto opened his mouth to voice his opinion, but was quickly stopped by the Kyuubi.

"**Don't interrupt me kit! We don't have any time, and I'm NOT giving you a choice on this matter! You WILL go to a time when you where younger because the simple fact is, If you die, I die!" **

Naruto sulked, but otherwise nodded in agreement.

"**Now, you may be wondering if you'll still have your current chakra level and strength once I send you back. Well, ****your**** going to have to find that one out on your own. You will still have your current knowledge, so you will have an advantage towards enemies and future events. Just think of it like this. You will get a second chance in life. Anything that you didn't want to happen, you will have the power to change. It's all up to you. I would tell you good luck on your journey, but frankly, I don't give a damn what you do. As long as you stay alive, I could really care less."**

Naruto was shocked at this.

'A second chance, huh?' he thought.

'I'll be able to save people who where precious to me.'

"Alright Kyuubi," Naruto yelled out loud, filled with new found determination.

"I'm ready when you are."

"**Not so fast kit, I must warn you. Any action you do differently could change the way things turn out in the future. So stay alert, and if you want things to stay the same, make sure you do the same thing to the best of your ability. Oh, and I'm not sure exactly when you will arrive, so make sure you ask or at least find out."**

Kyuubi got up from his resting position and started gathering his chakra.

Naruto could literally feel the whole room tremble from all the power Kyuubi was gathering.

He hadn't felt such power in his entire life.

'This is it' Naruto thought.

'Old man, Zabuza, Haku, Asuma-sensei, Gai-sensei, Lee, Hinata,...Sasuke. I promise, I won't let you guys die this time. I'll put my life on the line just to protect you!'

Naruto then felt a huge power forming right on top of his head.

At first, Naruto didn't know what to make of it, but for some reason, he trusted the Kyuubi enough to keep him safe.

The red ball of light that formed just above him quickly changed into what appeared to be a huge circle that surrounded his body.

After a few minutes, Naruto could vaguely see a picture forming inside of the circle at his feet.

It resembled the old apartment Sarutobi rented for him.

As soon as he noticed this, he felt his body being sucked down threw the circle.

"Kyuubi, what the hell?! A little warning would of been nice!" Naruto yelled as he was being dragged down threw floor.

"**Hold on kit, this is going to be one hell of a ride!"**

_"Hey Sasuke! I'm here.__" _

_Naruto yelled as he opened the door to his best friends home. _

_Sakura said she was going to be there in a few minutes and he knew that to be true as he could hear her opening the gates to the Uchiha compound._

"_Sasuke?"__ Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs. _

_"Where are you Teme!"_

_Naruto stared at the three cloud ninja, just now seeing that they where their. _

_"What the fuck are you doing in Sasu..."_

_He stopped talking as he saw what was on the floor. _

_Sasuke body with his throat__ slit and blood flowing on the ground his eye empty looking at Naruto. _

_Showing he was already long gone.  
_

"_Sasuke?" Naruto asked his voice cracking. _

_Red was what he saw nothing else. _

_The only thing that came threw was a voice.  
_

_"Hey Naruto why are you just standing there." _

_Sakura's voice came threw his mind as all went black.  
_

"SAKURA GET AWAY!" Naruto shouted.

He was covered with sweat and was panting hard.

'Damn, it was like I was there all over again' Naruto thought.

He sat up from his bed, stopped the alarm clock and look at his surroundings.

The first thing he noticed was that everything seemed out of place, but familiar at the same time.

There where a bunch of scrolls and empty ramen cups lying around the floor.

He also noticed that his walls seemed different today.

"Oh that's right." he said out loud.

'I guess that stupid fox's jutsu was successful.'

Naruto sighed and got up from his bed and headed towards the restroom to relieve himself.

'This is just great.' he thought , 'Kami only knows what day it is. I must figure this out as soon as possible.'

Once Naruto finished doing his business, he took a quick shower.

He had forgotten how awful his shower was.

He had to wait five minutes in order for the hot water to come out, and even then, it was just lukewarm.

As soon as he finished, he took a quick glance at himself in the mirror.

'hmm..' he thought, 'Well, I'm short now, so that pretty much gives me a rough idea at what age I'm at.'

Naruto looked around for clues around his apartment.

Lucky for him, he kept a calendar near his dresser to track the day of his graduation.

"So today is the day, huh? Might as well get ready."

He look at his dresser and found his old orange jumpsuit.

He laughed at this.

'Man, this used to be my favorite suit. Lot's of good memories I've had with this.' He put the suit on for now.

"Let's see, I still have…one hour to meet my 'new' team. Might as well see how my body works." Naruto's first test was to walk on the walls.

He managed to do that without a problem.

'Alright! Looks like my chakra control is still good. Ok, now let me see how much chakra I can regulate.'

Naruto tried to summon a low-level rasengan, and he did that flawless too.

'not bad, looks like I have more stamina now than I did back then. I got to make sure to keep a low profile.'

Naruto looked around the room for his scroll utensils.

He kept a set just in case he wanted to take notes on a specific jutsu.

Once he found it, he wrote a bunch of foreign letters on his right forearm.

'I have to thank Sai for helped me design custom seals someday.' he thought as he finished drawing the seal on his wrist.

The seal seamed to have two crescent moons mirroring each other where the arc was.

On the top of the arc, there is a small circle that isn't shaded.

Naruto made a rapid successions of hand seals and screamed out.

"Chakra suppressor!"

The foreign letters jumped up from his forearm and merged with the custom seal he created.

The small circle glowed blue for a second and the whole seal vanished from normal eyesight.

'There we go, I'll work on the other seals when I have time.'

Naruto checked the amount of Chaka he was giving out.

Even with most of his chakra suppressed, he estimated that he could produce a low kage level amount of chakra without breaking the seal.

He looked at his alarm clock. '5:30 am, I got thirty minutes to get there on time.

I'll make a quick stop at the store for some decent clothing.'

Naruto Packed his life savings in his holster and left his apartment.

It was still early in the morning, so there weren't that many people walking near the market.

Most of the stores where closed, but he was fortunate enough to find the weapon shop open.

After a quick henge, he went inside and bought a white wife beater, a black hod-die zip-up jacket that had a blue kangaroo pocket in the front and was outlined in blue with the right sleeve going all the way to his hand while the left stopped before his elbow, and he got black shorts like Sasuke's but it had red flames coming up from the bottom.

He put the clothes on and left the store after paying, dispelling the jutsu once he was out of harms way.

He carefully folded his old orange jumpsuit and put it under his arm.

Remembering before he left to make a quick stop at home to put it away.

But now, it was time to meet everybody again!

* * *

_At the Academy

* * *

_

Naruto waited outside the door for a few minutes to gather his wits.

'Okay, calm down. They are still the same people, no need to be afraid.' Naruto thought, trying to reassure himself.

He took a few steps in and was greeted by a loud classroom filled with twelve year old kids.

'Wow!' he thought, 'Everybody looks so different now that I'm used to seeing them older.'

Naruto scanned the classroom and saw most of his fellow comrades.

At one end of the corner, there sat Shikamaru sleeping in his desk, with Choji next to him munching on a bag of potato chips.

At the other end of the room, near the back, he could see Shino speaking with a fly.

'Heh' Naruto thought. 'he's probably finding out witch team he's on before hand.' he chuckled lightly.

Naruto continued looking around, until his eyes focused on a girl with dark blue hair.

His heart skipped a beat for a second.

'It's her. It's really her!' Naruto thought.

'What should I do? Should I go over there and talk to her? Get her attention somehow. I don't even know if she knows I exist yet.'

While he was lost in his thoughts, said girl turned her head around and her lavender eyes met a pair of ocean blue.

She sat there, shocked that Naruto was staring at her.

'He's looking at me! Oh my god, what do I do?' Hinata could feel her cheeks beginning to heat up.

"O-Ohayo N-Naruto-kun." Hinata managed to let out.

Naruto was even more shocked that she already added the suffix to his name.

He stood there starring at her wondering what to do.

Hinata was beginning to worry.

"Ano, a-are you o-okay N-Naruto-kun?" she asked with a sincere tone to her voice.

Naruto quickly snapped out of it and gave a light hearted chuckle.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I Must have had dosed off there for a second. It's nice to see you Hinata-chan." Naruto said.

'More than you'll ever know' he added in thought.

Hinata blushed at the chan added to her name.

"Ano, n-n-not to be ru-ru-rude or anything, b-b-b-but what are you d-doing here N-N-Naruto-kun?" she asked poking her index fingers together in her nervousness.

Naruto stared at her for a few seconds with a confused look, until it finally dawned on him why she was asking that.

"Oh right. I managed to pass the academy exam with some extra credit that Iruka-sensei gave me!" he said while giving his trademark grin and scratching the back of his head.

Hinata looked up at his forehead and sure enough, he wore a leaf head protector proudly.

She smiled up at him. "That's great Naruto-kun! I'm glad t-that you m-managed to p-pass." Naruto gave Hinata a heartwarming smile.

"Arigato Hinata-chan, you don't know how good it makes me feel that someone cares about me."

Hinata's eyes widen and she looks down at her fingers with a mad blush.

'He called me Hinata-chan twice' she thought, unconsciously smiling.

"I-It's nothing Naruto-kun, I t-truly am glad that you m-made it."

Hinata was doing her best not to faint right then and there.

She wasn't used to so much attention from anyone, especially from the person she admires the most.

She didn't know how much longer she could stay focused.

Thankfully, someone decided to barge into their conversation.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing in here! Don't you know that only people who passed the exam are allowed in the classroom?"

Naruto and Hinata turn around to face Kiba and his companion Akamaru.

Akamaru barked with agreement.

Naruto brought his hand up and adjusted his leaf head plate while he smiled at Kiba.

"Yup, that's exactly why I'm here Kiba. Nice to see you and Akamaru are in high spirits."

Kiba blinked for a second, then he smirked.

He thought that would of riled him up, but he was proven wrong this time.

"Ha, don't get too comfortable, being a real shinobi isn't just fun and games. Your going to have to take your missions seriously."

Naruto returned with his own smirk.

"You should know better than to underestimate people Kiba. Just make sure you don't slow your team down." Kiba snorted at the thought while Hinata giggled lightly.

"Well, I'm off to find me a seat, If I'm not with you guys, I wish you the best of luck." Naruto stated while slowly walking away.

"Save that for those who need it whiskers." Kiba yelled at him.

Naruto lifted up a hand to signal his leave.

"Already have, dog breath." Kiba smirked at this.

"That Naruto," he said, "I wouldn't mind being on his team, it would be full of laughs." Hinata smiled while she watched Naruto depart.

Naruto looked around for an empty seat, and the only ones he could find was the ones near Sasuke.

'Oh boy, this will be fun' Naruto thought sarcastically. Naruto walked toward an empty seat and looked at the sitting figure. "Sasuke" He said in acknowledgment.

"Hun." Is all he got for a reply.

Naruto couldn't help but smile.

'So it begins' he thought.

Naruto's train of thought was disrupted by a pair of screaming kunoichi near the door.

"Ha, take that Forehead girl, I won!" The girl with a long blond pony tail shouted.

"What are you talking about, my toe was inside the door before any part of your body was, Ino-pig!" the girl with pink bubblegum hair yelled back.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"TOO!"

"NOT!"

"Grr!" both girls grinned their teeth while glaring at each other.

'Yep, I defiantly missed my youthful days.' Naruto's smile widened a little bit.

Naruto glanced up at Sakura who appeared to look straight at him.

"Ohayo Sakura-chan, how was your…" Naruto didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was shoved away.

"Naruto, move your ass, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!"

"Hai hai, but you didn't have to be so rude." his words met death ears.

Sakura was staring at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes.

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun, how are you this morning?" Sasuke didn't even blink.

"Oi Sasuke-teme."

Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"What do you want dobe?" he asked bitterly.

"Sakura-chan asked you a question. It's rather rude for you to ignore her. You could of least give her some sort of acknowledgment."

Sakura looked at Naruto questionably. 'Did he try to get Sasuke's attention for me, or is he just trying to act tough.'

"I don't have time to worry about insignificant conversations. I have a lot of things on my mind that you wouldn't understand." Sasuke replied coolly.

Sakura's heart sank at hearing this.

"Sasuke, you are an asshole, you need to lighten up a little bit." Naruto said simply and turned his attention to the roof.

"Whatever dobe."

'Damn,' Naruto thought, 'It's going to be difficult changing Sasuke's outlook in life again.'

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with watery eyes.

Sasuke's looked at Sakura with impassive eyes.

"Do you really think our conversations are insignificant?" Sasuke softened his eyes a little while Naruto kept looking at the ceiling pretending he wasn't interested in the conversation.

Sasuke sighed. If it was something he hated seeing most of all, it was crying girls.

"No Sakura, I didn't mean it. I'm just having a bad day, could you just give me some space please?" Sakura smiled after hearing that.

"Okay Sasuke-kun. If you need some time alone, I won't bother you."

'Well what do you know.' Naruto thought, 'I guess it won't be so hard after all.'

A few more minutes passed when Iruka walked Into the classroom and got everyone's attention.

"Listen up class." He started.

"Today will be the turning points in your lives. All of you attending today have proven that you have what it takes to be a ninja. I am very proud with each and every one of you." Iruka looked up and smiled at Naruto before continuing.

"But don't let that get to your head, this is only the beginning. As you face new challenges, your skills will be tested and you must learn to adapt to any situation presented to you. As of right now, you are at the bottom of the ranks. Work your way up and prove that you got what it takes to be the best!"

Iruka's words had the desired affect.

Everyone's spirits where lifted and a wave of determination could be felt all across the classroom.

"Now, each and every one of you are going to be in a three man team. I will assign a jounin instructor for each team. When you hear your name, please come up and sit on the designated tables."

* * *

_After a few teams where announced

* * *

_

"Team seven will consist of," Iruka said.

'Here we go.' thought Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura…"

'Oh crap.' thought Sakura. 'Why do I have to be on that idiot's team.'

"…and Uchiha Sasuke."

"YATTA!" yelled Sakura with glee.

**"Take that Ino-pig! ****One more for the good guys!"**

'oh, so I didn't get to be on Naruto's team.' thought Hinata.

"Please find your designated table." Iruka said as team seven got up and looked for their seats.

Once seated Iruka continues with his list.

"Team Eight will consist of, Hyuuga Hinata," said girl looks up, "Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Please find your designated table." the said three found their table, right next to team seven. Hinata walked up hesitantly the seat next to Naruto.

"Ano, i-is it o-okay if I s-sit next to you?" Hinata asked.

Naruto looked at her, pulled back the chair, and waved her to sit, all while smiling.

"Sure Hinata-chan not a problem. It's nice to see you again!" Naruto beamed at her.

Hinata shyly answers back. "T-Thank you N-Naruto-kun. I hope we will keep in touch after the academy."

At this, Naruto remembered something. He leaned forward and whispered in Hinata's ear.

"Oi, Hinata-chan."

Hinata blushed when she felt his breath on her earlobe.

"I want to give you a present, but you got to keep it a secret, ok?"

"A present for me Naruto-kun?" she whispered back with shock written all over her eyes.

"Hai. It's a special seal I developed. It helps us keep each other in contact no mater how far apart we are."

At first, Hinata paled at hearing the word seal, but then quickly shook it off once she heard that she will be able to stay in contact with Naruto even if they where on different teams.

"O-Okay Naruto-kun, I accept your present." She whispered in his ear.

Naruto got goose bumps when he felt her get closer to his face, and he developed a small blush once he felt her warm breath on his ear.

'Calm down Naruto, keep your head out of the gutter.' Naruto thought.

"Okay Hinata-chan, place your hand on top of mine." He whispered.

Hinata's mind was going haywire now.

'He wants me to hold his hand! This must be one of my dreams, there's no way he would ask me that.' she thought.

Either way, Hinata was more than happy to comply.

Naruto felt her smooth skin instantly and grasped her hand.

Hinata was turning into a human cherry at this point.

"Ok Hinata-chan, don't move. This might sting a little, try not to think about it much."

Naruto drew what appeared to be an eye on top of her hand using a scroll brush.

He then snapped three of his fingers and pressed it on top of her hand with force.

Hinata whimpered a little bit while Naruto applied the seal, but other than that, she didn't complain much.

Naruto rubbed the top of her hand where her seal is and asked her if she was okay.

She looked up at Naruto dreamingly and sighed with contentment.

It was only then that Naruto realized he was still massaging her hand.

"Hehehe, sorry about that." He said while scratching his back.

Naruto got the brush and did the same process with his hand.

Once done, He started explaining to Hinata.

"Listen Hinata-chan, don't tell anybody about this seal. I don't want people to know that I can do this, so just keep it between us, okay?"

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, you have my word." she responded.

"Okay, let me tell you how this seal works. Look at your hand. Do you see anything?"

Hinata looked at her hand and noticed that the seal disappeared. She looked worried.

"Don't worry, it's suppose to do that. Nobody will know you have this seal except me. Ok listen carefully. With this seal, I can communicate with you whenever I want and vise versa. All you have to do is apply some chakra near the seal and ask for me by name. Once you do that, I can either respond to you or Ignore it, depending on the situation. I will not ignore you if you tell me it is an emergency, so don't be afraid to use it."

"Okay Naruto-kun, but how are we able to communicate?" she asked.

"_Just like this."_

Hinata gasped.

She heard Naruto's voice, but she didn't see him move his lips.

Naruto smirked.

"_Surprised Hinata-chan?__ You can hear me loud and clear right?" _she nodded her head.

_"Good, all you have to do __Is__ think what you want to say to me while applying chakra to the seal, it's that simple. Try it!"_

Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated.

"_Like this, Naruto-kun?" _Hinata asked.

"_That's it! You got it down Hinata-chan."_

"_This is so amazing Naruto-kun! You must be a genius to come up with something like this by yourself."_

Naruto blushed and gave Hinata his trademark grin.

"and team ten will consist of, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji. Please find your designated seats." Iruka finished.

"Oh great, I'm stuck with a lazy bum and a fata..mph!"

"Quiet down you troublesome woman, you do not want to upset Choji. That type of language is taboo around him." Shikamaru said.

"Now that that's out of the way," Iruka commented, "I would like to once again congratulate you on a job well done. Please be patient, your jounin Instructor should arrive shortly."

And so, the academy students did just that.

Jounin Instructors started to show up one by one to pick up their teams.

Everyone, except for a few, where anxious to meet their Jounin Instructors.

"Team Ten?" A tall, bearded jounin asked as he walked inside of the classroom.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji looked up and turn their attention to the man.

"Oh, there you are. As of right now, I will be your official sensei. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. Please follow me so we could get better acquainted."

"Whoa whoa, Sarutobi as in, THE Sarutobi?" Ino asked.

Asuma chuckled as he looked at his female student.

"Does it really matter what my last name is? I assure you that you are not getting any special treatment. I won't be easy on you though, so you guys better be prepared to keep up with my training regimen."

Naruto laughed lightly at this. "Oh I'm sure they are ready Asuma-sensei, especially that lazy bum over there." he nodded towards Shikamaru.

"Lazy huh?" Asuma said. "Don't worry, once I'm done with him, he will be one of the finest shinobi from Konoha."

'That he will.' Naruto thought.

"Gees Naruto, why do you have to be so troublesome? Now he's defiantly going to test my limits." Shikamaru said while narrowing his eyes at Naruto.

"Lighten up a little Shikamaru, you'll like his form of training, trust me." Naruto said as he patted Shikamaru's back. 'That Asuma is just as lazy as you are, Shikamaru'

"Ok, enough chit chat, we most be going. Let's go team ten." Asuma said. "Good luck guys!" Naruto said as team ten followed their sensei.

Asuma was nearly out of the door, but was surprised when a young female with red eyes appeared right in front of him.

"Well well, fancy seeing you here Asuma. Came to pick up your team?" The young girl asked.

"Actually, I came here to ask Iruka for some cigarettes, since I ran out." he said with a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Smartass. So who did you get for your team?" Kurenai asked while she moved inside of the classroom.

"Your looking at them." Asuma said.

Kurenai evaluated his students with a quick glance on each one.

"Are these the kids of those guys that you hang around at the bar?" she asked.

"Troblesome, even a total stranger knows that our parents are alcoholics." Shikamaru whined.

Ino hit the top of his head.

"Speak for yourself! My dad's NOT an alcoholic! Let that be the last time I catch you saying anything bad about my family again!" Ino yelled at Shikamaru. "And apologize to Choji! He might not mind as much, but I find it very disrespectful!"

Choji switch glances at both Shikamaru and Ino.

He finally settled his gaze at Ino and said, "Ino, it's alright. Me and Shikamaru have been friends for a long time. Don't take anything he says too personally, he usually just complains about everything."

"Looks like you have your work cut out for you Asuma" Kurenai snickered as she watch the display.

"This is going to be a long day." said Asuma.

"Lets go team, we have been set back long enough, it's time to see what you can do."

"Make sure you train them hard Asuma, they are going to need it if they want to stand a chance against my team." she said with an evil smirk.

"Yeah yeah, I'll see you later." He winked at her and left with his team.

"Men." she said lightheartedly. "Okay, which one of you groups is Team Eight?"

"That would be us." came a monotone voice. She looked at the boy with sunglasses and smiled towards her whole team. "Hello team, My name is Yuhi Kurenai and I have been assigned to be your sensei. Please follow me so that I can further evaluate your skills and find the best course of action for our team."

"Alright, let's go, Shino, Hinata, Akamaru." Kiba said, suddenly taking the role of the leader. They, all got up from their desk and walked towards their teacher.

"Excuse me, Kurenai-sama?" Naruto said out loud. Kurenai turned her head and looked at the blond boy. "Please, you don't have to treat me with that much respect." she snickered. "just call me Kurenai or Kurenai-sensei."

"Very well Kurenai-sensei. Sorry for interrupting you, but I was wondering if it would be possible if I could train with you guys on my spare time."

She scratched her temple and looked up while she thought about it. "Well, I don't see why not. If we are training and you don't have anything to do, your more than welcome…umm…"

"Naruto. The name is Uzumaki Naruto, and thank you." he said with a smile.

"My pleasure, come on team, let's go." Kurenai and her team left the building, leaving only team seven waiting.

Naruto stood up and looked at his team. 'Well, I guess it would be nice to give them a head start with their elemental training. I'll work on their taijustu once we officially become a team.'

"Oi Sasuke, Sakura-chan, I'm going to go outside for a couple of minutes to train, would you guys like to come with me?"

"But Naruto, we are supposed to be waiting for our Sensei. What if he shows up and we aren't here?" Sakura asked

"Don't worry, we won't go anywhere far, just outside the classroom, and if he comes in, he could see us through that window." Naruto pointed at the window to prove his point.

"So what do you say, are you in?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, I don't have a problem with it. Anything is better than just sitting here." Sasuke said.

"Well, If Sasuke is okay with it, I'll go too."

**'That way, I can prove to him how strong I am! ****HELL YEAH!'** Inner Sakura added in her thought as always.

"Okay. Lets go and see what you got." Naruto lead the team just outside of the classroom they were currently in.

There where three targets set up in front of them and they each got in front of the targets.

"Okay, first things first. What ninjustu do you guys have in your arsenal? You don't have to tell me everything, but I want to know at least your strongest attack." said Naruto as he looked at his teammates.

"Well, we all know all the basic jutsus that we learned here. Kawarimi, henge, and bushin no justu. I know a couple of fire techniques, but my strongest one is the Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu." Sasuke said with a hint of pride.

"Good good, I know a couple of techniques myself, but I usually favor the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. What about you Sakura-chan."

'Kage Bushin? Gōkakyu? Damn! All I know are the academy techniques! I can understand Sasuke being strong, but how the hell did Naruto learn the Kage Bushin?' Sakura thought as she stared at her teammates with a blank face.

"Well, all I really know are the academy techniques." Sakura said as she look down at the floor.

"Hey don't worry about it Sakura, everybody starts out like that. We will make sure you become stronger, I can promise you that" He said as he mimicked Lee's nice guy pose.

Sakura looked up with a smile and nodded with acknowledgment.

"Okay. Do you guys know your elemental affinity?" Naruto asked.

"…Our what?" Sasuke asked surprised Naruto knew something he didn't.

"Your Elemental affinity. Every body has at least one type of element that they are better suited for. Take me for instance, My affinity is wind. And since you are an Uchiha, yours is most likely fire, but it may be different. You never know unless you take the test."

"So how can we find out our affinity? Is the test hard?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked at Sakura with a smile.

"I'm Glad you asked that Sakura-chan. I'll show you" Naruto reached into his holster and pulled out three pieces of paper.

"Here, hold this." He gave one peace of paper to each of his teammates.

"What's this for?" Sasuke asked eyeing the piece of paper.

"Why, that paper is what's going to tell you what type of affinity you favor. This paper will react to your chakra, and depending on your affinity, it will react a certain way. If you favor fire, the paper burns, if you favor water, it gets wet. If you favor wind, it splits in half, If you favor lightning, it scrunches up, and if you favor earth, it disintegrates. You follow?" Sasuke and Sakura nodded their heads.

"Ok let me demonstrate how to perform this test. Hold the paper between your index and middle finger and flow some chakra towards the paper. Like so" Naruto gathered chakra on his fingers and the paper split in half.

Sasuke and Sakura watched attentively and they were pleasantly surprised that Naruto wasn't just making stuff up.

"and that's all there is to it. Go ahead and try." Naruto said with a cheesy grin.

Sasuke looked at the piece of paper and put it between his index and middle fingers.

He gathered chakra on his fingers and the paper scrunched up.

"So, my affinity is lightning." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"Thanks dobe, now I know what type of jutsus to learn."

"Yeah, don't mention it. What are teammates for?" Sasuke couldn't help but smile at this.

He was beginning to like this team, but he sure as hell wasn't going to say that out loud.

Naruto could be just the guy to help him become strong enough to beat Danzō.

"Why don't you try it out Sakura? It should be interesting to know what type of affinity you have." Sasuke said as he looked at Sakura.

Sakura couldn't help but blush a little.

Sasuke was finally paying attention to her, and boy did she like it!

"H-Hai" she said a little to fast.

She put the paper between her index and middle finger and gathered chakra between her fingers.

At first the paper just stayed the same and she was wondering if she did it wrong.

"Naruto, nothing happened."

Naruto smirked at this.

"look closely Sakura-chan.."

Sakura gave him a confused look and turned her attention to the paper.

The paper started the crumble into little pieces and her fingers felt like they had dirt in them.

"Wow, that felt weird!" Sakura said.

"So I guess I favor earth techniques. It's going to be hard finding someone who could teach me these."

"Don't worry too much about it, just because you have an affinity to earth doesn't mean you can't learn other techniques. Plus, you never know what are new sensei might know." Naruto reassured Sakura.

Sakura beamed a little at this and asked, "What do we do now Naruto?"

Naruto thought for a few seconds, then he gave out a look that seamed like he got an epiphany.

"I got a couple of presents for you guys, but you must swear that you will not let anybody know about this. Trust me, it will be a great advantage if we are the only ones who know. So what do you say?"

"Sure, it's not like I like to give away my advantages. Are you going to show us some jutsus or what?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, yes, but that's not the advantage I was really thinking about. I plan to place a couple of seals on us. But it's up to you guys if you want it." Naruto said.

"As long as it doesn't have any bad side effects, I'm okay with it. What do you say Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

'**YES, Sasuke-kun finally wants to know what I think! Hell yeah! Take that Ino-pig!' **

"Sure, if it truly makes us advantageous, I'm all for it." said Sakura.

"Alright, let me just get you guys set up, might as well start with the gravity seal." Naruto took out his scroll utensils and started drawing gravity seals on their left hands.

He also drew one on his hand.

The seal looked like some sort of circle with a ring going around it vertically.

"Ok guys, I need you to draw a circle around the seal with some of your blood. I suggest you bite your thumb with your canine tooth." said Naruto as he did this himself.

'Shit, this is going to hurt.' thought Sakura as she raised her thumb and bit it to draw some blood.

Sasuke was having the same line of thought as he bit his thumb and drew the required circle around the seal.

"Ok, We are almost done with this seal, just wait a few minutes." Naruto said.

Once they where ready, Naruto snapped three of his fingers and slammed them on top of his left hand.

The blood was absorbed by the seal and the ring rotated once, disappearing once the rotation was done.

Once Naruto finished sealing Sasuke and Sakura's seal, he started explaining, "Okay, what I just put on your left hand is a gravity seal. The purpose of the seal is to increase your weight evenly around your body. This could be a great trump card if you increase the seals gravity exponentially. To change the amount of gravitational pull, draw a number on top of your left hand with blood while applying chakra. Your body weight will be multiplied according to the number you put on the seal. If you want to go back to your original weight, all you do is draw the number one on your hand. Got it."

"Um, I got a question." Sakura said. "Why did the seal disappear once you activated it?"

"Well, the seal didn't really disappear, it's just hidden from prying eyes. It is designed so that nobody will think you have it, thus, this is the reason it could be a trump card." Naruto answered.

"Where did you learn how to do this Naruto?" asked Sasuke.

He was getting very suspicious.

The Naruto he knew acted like a moron and never showed any promise with jutsus.

Now, he seems very knowledgeable.

"Does it really matter? Look, the reason I'm showing you this is because you are my teammates and I trust you guys. I didn't want everyone to know that I am actually a descent shinobi. People will underestimate me and that will be their downfall."

Sasuke smirked at his answer.

'Who would of thought that the dobe was actually thinking ahead. He even had me fooled.'

"I suggest you don't increase the weight right now. We will have plenty of time to train later. When you decide to activate it, start of at two. You will understand why once you do." he said smiling a bit.

"Now, I got one more seal to put on you guys. Lift up your right hand." Sakura and Sasuke complied.

He applied the same seal that he put on Hinata and activated them.

"Those are what I like to call tracking seals. It lets me know exactly where you guys are at, but that's not the best part. If you gather chakra on your right arm and concentrate, we could communicate via telepathy. Just think about the person you want to talk to and think out what you want to say as you apply chakra to the seal. Simple as that."

"_Am I doing this right Naruto" _asked Sakura as she talked via telepathy at Naruto.

"_That's perfect Sakura-chan, try talking to Sasuke."_

"_Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?" _she asked.

"_Yeah, loud and clear.__ Leave it to Naruto to devise something as sneaky as this." _Sakura laughed out loud at this.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto. "Oh, nothing." Sakura said simply.

Naruto eyed Sakura and Sasuke for a bit, but decided to move along.

"So Sasuke," Naruto turned his head toward Sasuke.

"You said your strongest attack was the Goukakyuu no Jutsu?"

"Yeah, I learned it when I was younger. It took me a while, but it was worth it." Sasuke said.

"Ok, I'm going to teach you a stronger fire technique. Watch closely." Naruto turned around and faced his target.

He concentrated chakra on his lungs.

He did a hand seal that was a shock to Sasuke's system. Naruto took a deep breath and out came a flaming dragon out of his mouth.

To say Sasuke was shocked was an understatement.

He knew what that technique was.

It's a B rank jutsu that only a few Uchiha's where able to master.

The dragon continued flying along its coordinated path and destroyed the target.

"I'm guessing that by the look of your face that you know exactly what technique is."

Sasuke nodded his head dumbly.

"T-That's the Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, isn't it?" Sakura asked while she looked bug eyed at the target.

"……Teach me!" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto laughed out loud at the way Sasuke looked.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto.

Once Naruto calmed down, he continued his lecture.

"Okay, first gather chakra at your lungs just like you would with the Gōkakyu. The hand seal is simple as it's only Tiger. Once you've done that, aim and blow. You can control the dragon's path as long as it's still active."

Sasuke turned around and looked at his target. He gathered chakra on his lungs, did the required hand seal and blew out a small dragon from his mouth. It moved off to the left and disappeared before it went even five feet.

"Try putting more chakra into your lungs." Naruto advised Sasuke.

Sasuke continued to practice while Naruto turned his head towards Sakura.

"While he's busy doing that, how about I'll show you something?" Naruto said while he lead Sakura a few meters away from Sasuke.

"Okay, am I going to learn an earth jutsu?" She asked with hopeful eyes.

"Nope, I'm going to show you something more useful."

Naruto pulled out a kunai and hissed with pain as he sliced his forearm.

"AAAAH!" Sakura shrieked.

"What the fuck Naruto! Are you crazy? Shit, that cut looks deep!" she said as she looked at the blood that was pouring out of his forearm.

" I'll go get some help!" Sakura was about to leave when Naruto grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Wait Sakura-chan, watch." Naruto lifter up his other hand and focused chakra on his palm.

His hand glowed green and gave out a low hum.

Naruto then placed it where he cut himself and the cut healed, leaving his forearm looking like new.

"This is a basic medical jutsu. You need near perfect chakra control in order to perform this technique. It shouldn't be a problem for you, since most Kunoichi have that trait. I want you to at least learn this technique. If you like it, maybe you can find someone to teach you more. This is the only medical technique I know."

"Ok Naruto, but what am I going to practice on?" Naruto sliced his forearm again.

Sakura shrieked and hit Naruto on his head.

"Stop doing that dumbass! I appreciate you teaching me this but I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well, it's too late now, might as well practice before I die of blood loss Sakura." Sakura watched Naruto's arm and started panicking.

"Oh god, what do I do!?" she asked frantically.

Naruto chuckled. "First, calm down a bit, If your not calm, your going to hurt me more than help me."

Sakura started breathing in and out until she was under control. "Okay, what I need you to do is to gather chakra on your palm. Try to control the output and vibrate the chakra as you let some of it flow out of your palm.

Sakura focused on her hand, and sure enough, her hand was glowing green.

"Good, good. Now, all you have to do is place your palm above my cut and try to imagine healing my arm." He said.

"Ok, I'll give it a shot." Sakura waved her palm over Naruto's hand and she slowly saw that his hand was healing.

'This is so cool!' she thought.

'Wait till Ino hears about this! She will have to acknowledge that I'm better than her, and Sasuke-kun will be all mine!' She smiled triumphantly as she finished healing Naruto's arm.

"Ok, do you want to try it again?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I do, but I don't want you to keep hurting yourself. I'll rather practice when one of you guys get injured when practicing. Besides, I think I got the concept down." she said.

"Ok, let's go see how Sasuke is doing." Sakura nodded her head and followed Naruto.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke stopped in the middle of his hand seal and turned towards Naruto.

"What do you want Naruto, I'm still practicing!" He yelled back.

Naruto got closer and looked at Sasuke's shattered target.

He eyed Sasuke for a bit and then asked, "So how are you handling the technique?"

"I've gotten the hang of it, but I'm having trouble controlling the direction of it's path. That and it wasn't as big as yours…yet." he smirked.

"Oh, you think you'll be able to match the size of my dragon?" Naruto asked with a hint of a challenge.

"Not only that, I'll make sure it's bigger than yours dobe." Sasuke said.

"One word of advice Sasuke. Learn to control the dragon first before you increase its size. Come on, let's go back inside. Our sensei should arrive anytime now, plus we should save some chakra in case he test us or something." Naruto said.

Sasuke agreed to this and they went inside the classroom to wait for their missing sensei.

It has been 30 minutes since team seven finished practicing outside of the Academy.

Their jounin instructor was still no where in sight and Naruto was getting impatient.

Naruto checked what his teammates were doing.

Sasuke was still practicing the path of the Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, by now, he practically had it moving to the point of it being a reflex as if it where a part of his body.

Sakura, however, was just admiring Sasuke practicing the jutsu.

'God Kakashi-sensei, how long are you going to take?' Naruto thought. He decided to check up with Hinata to see what she was doing.

"_Oi, Hinata-chan?__ Are you with your team right now?" _Naruto asked via telepathy.

Hinata was startled at the sudden voice in her head and blushed lightly when she figured out Naruto was talking to her.

_"Konnichiwa Naruto-kun. Yes, I'm with my teammates. Kurenai-sensei is testing Kiba-kun and Akamaru right now. I'll be next once his turn is done."_

"_I see. Well, my teammates and I are still stuck at the academy. Our jounin instructor hasn't arrived yet and I wanted to check up on you." _Naruto said.

Hinata felt her cheeks burn at the thought of Naruto thinking about her.

_"Don't worry about me Naruto-kun, I'm fine. My teammates turned out to be nice so far, we really get along well. I hope your not having any problems with your team."_ She replied.

Naruto looked at his teammates.

Sasuke was currently trying to improve his timing on hitting the target, while Sakura was keeping track of his speed with a stop watch.

"How fast was it this time?" Sasuke eyed Sakura, hoping he at least tied his current record.

"One point three seconds. You where faster than the other time, good job!" Sakura said, smiling with approval.

Sasuke gave her a cocky smirk and continued with his exercise.

Sakura didn't even miss a beat.

"_We seem to get a long better than I first expected, but it still is too early to tell. I can only hope this keeps up." _Naruto replied Hinata.

"_Gomen Naruto-kun, I got to cut our conversation short. Kiba just finished being evaluated. I have to go." _Hinata said with a reluctant tone of voice.

"_It's ok Hinata-__chan,__ It was fun talking to you. Go show Kurenai-sensei what __your__ made of!" _Naruto said, trying to encourage her.

Hinata gave of a happy smile.

Then she answered.

_"I will Naruto-kun. I'll give it my best." _and with that, she cut off the conversation.

Naruto gave of a smile of his own.

'Good luck, Hinata-chan' he thought.

Team seven waited five more minutes until their sensei finally arrived.

"Konnichiwa! Are you three team seven?" the jounin instructor asked.

"YOUR LATE!" yelled Sakura while giving off an irritated vibe. The jounin instructor didn't even notice.

"Gomen. You see, I was walking down the street when a black cat crossed my path. I had to take a detour." The jounin instructor said coolly.

"THAT"S your excuse!?" Sakura yelled while giving off steam on the side of her ears.

"Your lucky Naruto gave us something to do, or else I would of strangle you by now."

"Oh really?" The jounin Instructor said looking directly at Naruto.

Naruto shurged his shoulders with indifference.

"I see, and what did you gave them to do?" He asked.

"You will find out sooner or later. It depends on how far you push us." was Naruto's simple reply.

"Is that's so? Alright, I like what I see so far. Why don't we all meet up at the roof and get started?"

"Sure thing" replied Sasuke, getting up from his chair. "The sooner we start, the better. Lead the way."

The Jounin smiled.

"Hai." was the simple response.

Team seven followed their sensei to the roof and they each sat down on the bench; their sensei sitting just across from them.

"Ok. I would like to start things of with introductions. In order for us to be a successful team, we must know each other like the back of our hands. I would like to hear each of you guys' dreams, likes, dislikes, and anything else you can think of."

"Um, sensei? Can you give us an example? We really don't know that much about you. Your almost a stranger." Asked Sakura.

"Me?" Asked the jounin instructor, clearly surprised.

"Well ok then, I'll start things off" He said with a closed eye witch can only be identified as a smile.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the type of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business... But anyway I have lots of hobbies."

Sakura bummed a little at this.

"So all we learned is your name." she said in a low voice.

"Okay, now you, whiskers. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes. Etc."

Naruto smiled and gave a mock bow.

"Hai. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like many things in life, particularly my friends and the other people I consider family. What I despise most of all in this world are people who hurt others for the sake of power "

Sasuke nodded as if agreeing with Naruto.

"o and people who can't look underneath the underneath. One of my goals in life is to protect those who are precious to me, that's why I want to become the best Hokage this village has ever seen." Naruto finished.

'I like this kid' Kakashi smiled, 'his mind on the right track, and with a little help, he might just make that dream come true.'

"Very good Naruto. Now your turn raven." Kakashi said as he eyed Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate but I don't see that it matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about "dreams"... That's just a word... But what I do have is determination.I plan to restore my clan. And there's someone i have sworn... To kill." Sasuke said with his hands covering his mouth.

His eyes seaming to get even darker as he talked.

_"Sasuke-kun is so cool!"_ Sakura thought a blush appearing on her face.

_"I'll make sure to help you Sasuke. This time Itachi will be alive and Danzō__ will die."_ Naruto thought eyes going down and looking at the floor.

_"... I suspected as much..."_ Kakashi thought wondering what would happen to the last Uchiha in the future.

"And finally... The young lady." He said with a smile under his mask showing only with his one eye turning up.

"Hai. My name is Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is… Well it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy... And that boy is..." she eyed Sasuke with a blush, then continued.

"My favorite hobby is…" she eyed Sasuke again and blushed a little bit more. "As for my dreams…" She eyed Sasuke and squealed with delight while kicking her legs. "I hate…"

She looked at Naruto, he seemed to be paying attention to everything that she has been saying.

'Do I really hate him?' She thought. '..No, he proved to me that he can be tolerable. Plus, he did show me that nifty medical technique.'

"…Well, I can't think of anything I hate or dislike right now sensei."

'Oh boy.' Kakashi thought.

'kids these days seem to enjoy love more than ninjutsu.'

"That's good Sakura."

"Ok now that we know a little bit about each other, we can start with our duties tomorrow." Kakashi said simply.

"Are we starting our first mission sensei?" Asked Sakura. Naruto laughed a little at this.

"What's so funny Naruto!?" Sakura asked him, furious that she was being laughed at.

"Oh nothing. I just remembered a joke that Kiba told me a while back." he lied.

Everyone seemed to buy his excuse.

"Well Sakura, I was thinking of doing something with the four of us…survival training."

Sakura got a little mad at this.

"Survival training? But Kakashi-sensei, we done enough of this type of training at the academy." she whined.

"This isn't any normal training Sakura. During this exercise, I will be your opponent. Your going to be tested on your abilities as a shinobi, in your case, a kunoichi. The real funny thing is…oh never mind, forget that part."

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto played the part perfectly.

"Well, The thing is, out of the twenty seven people who graduated from the academy, only nine of you will pass and become Genin. Sucks to be you right now, doesn't it?" Kakashi laughed out loud.

Sakura paled and Sasuke sweated a little over the news, but Naruto took the news rather well.

"Aren't you worried about this test Naruto?" asked Kakashi.

"Not really, I'm pretty sure I can pass your test. It'll be a piece of cake!" Naruto said with his wide grin.

"Confident aren't we? If your ready, then show up at this current location at the required time, don't be late." Kakashi said as he handed his students a piece of paper. "One piece of advice. Don't eat breakfast, you will only throw up if you do."

"Ok Kakashi-sensei. We will meet you there tomorrow morning, right guys?" Naruto said.

"Of course we are, no stupid test is going to scare me away!" said Sakura with much needed confidence she was missing a little earlier.

Sasuke smirked and gave a grunt of approval.

'Looks like their teamwork is going good so far, lets see if it stays that way tomorrow.' Kakashi thought as he took his leave.

"Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my day. I'll meet you guys up tomorrow morning. Oh, don't activate the gravity seal until we are finished with our test, it will only mess us up if we do."

"Sure thing. I'll see you later baka." Sasuke said as he took his leave.

"Naruto, thank you for everything. I'll make sure I find a way to repay you, I promise." Sakura smiled at Naruto, who blushed his a little at the attention he got.

"No problem. I'll meet up with you tomorrow Sakura-chan!" he gave her a sincere smile.

Sakura turned around and yelled at the top of her lungs.

"Sasuke-kun! Wait for me!" She ran towards the fading figure.

* * *

_The following morning

* * *

_

Sasuke and Sakura where waiting at the designated training field, there where no sign of Kakashi or Naruto.

Sakura was grinding her teeth.

"Where the hell are those two? They should have been here by now. It's been over an hour!" Sasuke was sitting near a tree, resting his head against it.

It appeared that he was sleeping.

Naruto's body was beginning to appear before the horizon, and once he got close enough, he greeted his teammates loudly.

"Ohayo Sakura-chan, Sasuke. How are you guys this morning!?" he said grinning.

"YOUR LATE! What the hell happen!? Did you forget that we had an important meeting!?" Sakura screamed at him, practically leaking a malicious vibe.

"Gomennasai Sakura-chan. I was just thinking of your beauty and I must of lost track of the time." He said without missing a beat.

Sakura blushed madly at this and hit him over the head.

"You pervert! Stop thinking of me that way!" She yelled at Naruto, who only seemed to snicker at the way she responded to his excuse.

"Gomen Gomen! I won't think of you like that anymore, I swear." Naruto said smirking evilly.

His facial expression only got Sakura's blush to increase a little more, but she resisted the urge to hit him once again and calmed down.

Naruto looked around for Sasuke, he found him sleeping against a tree.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and looked for the source for his rude awakening.

"What is it, is Kakashi here?" He asked sleepily.

"Not yet, but I was wondering if you where hungry. I brought some breakfast for you and Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he waved a bento box to prove his point.

"Naruto, didn't you hear Kakashi-sensei's warning?" Sakura asked.

"Yes I did, but I just figured that if we are going to do this test, and only a moron goes into battle with no energy so I thought we might as well do this test while we are full of energy. We are going up against a Jounin after all." Naruto said.

"The dobe has a point. I want to be at my best when I go up against him." Sasuke said.

"Alright. If you guys think it's for the best, then I'll eat too." Sakura said

And so, team seven enjoyed a good breakfast and passed the time talking about their current situation.

* * *

_Two (or more)hours later_

* * *

Kakashi-sensei arrived after a few leaves appeared out of nowhere, courtesy of his Shunshin No Jutsu.

"Ohayo! How is my team doing this morning?" Kakashi said with what appeared to be a smile.

"YOUR LATE SENSEI!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Gomen, There was this little boy that was crying on the street on my way over here, and being a good shinobi of the leaf, I had to make sure he was okay."

Sakura gave Kakashi a critical eye, and accepted his excuse.

Naruto however, smirked at this while Sasuke gave his grunt of disapproval.

Kakashi took out an alarm clock and set it.

"Ok It's set for noon." He said simply.

"Your task is to take these bells away from me before the time runs out." Kakashi said as he pulled out two bells.

"Those who can't get a bell from me get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of these stumps," he said while pointing at three logs.

"but I'll also eat your lunch right in front of you."

'Thank god Naruto thought ahead and brought breakfast, this would of surely sucked ass without it.' Sakura thought.

As for Sasuke, he was having the same line of thought.

"You only need to get one bell. As you can see, there are only two bells, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump, and the person who does fails, so at least one of you will go back to the academy."

All three of the students paled.

Of course, Naruto played the part flawlessly.

"You can use any weapons in your arsenal." Kakashi continued.

"You will not succeed unless you come at me intending to kill. We will start when I say so. Ready?" He ask.

Everybody tensed up. "You may begin!"

All three students jumped out of sight and hid somewhere in the forest.

"_Sakura-chan, can you hear me?" _Asked Naruto.

Sakura looked around for Naruto but couldn't find him.

_"If your looking for __me,__ don't bother, I'm using the tracking seal to talk to you, remember?" _

Sakura soon remembered and channeled some chakra into her seal.

_"Yeah yeah, I know. What is it?"_ she asked with an icy tone.

"_I have a plan. I'm going to need your help on this. __Your__ going to have to trust me. If __your__ willing to help me, I'll get you a bell." _Said Naruto.

"_But if you and I get a bell, that means Sasuke-kun won't get one. I can't do that to him! I can find a way to get a bell myself." _Sakura said

"_Sakura-chan, don't worry about that. I'll make sure Sasuke passes too, but __your__ going to have to trust me!" _Naruto yelled at Sakura, trying to convince her.

Sakura sighed and relented.

_"I hope you know what your doing baka. You got my attention, what's the plan." _Naruto smirked and told Sakura and Sasuke his plan.

_Meanwhile…_

'Good, all three of them are hidden well. At least they have the basics down.' Kakashi thought.

"Oi Kakashi-sensei! I am your opponent! Fight me!" Yelled Naruto.

'Good, looks like he already started.' Thought Sasuke.

Kakashi just sweat dropped at his student's bluntness.

"You're a bit confident, aren't you?" Kakashi said.

"Lesson one: Taijutsu I'll teach you a thing or two about it." Kakashi pulled out an orange book out of his kunai holster and started reading it.

"What's wrong? Hurry and come at me." Kakashi said.

Naruto started laughing out loud.

Kakashi looked up from his book and stared at Naruto.

"You just made a big mistake sensei." Naruto said as he disappeared from his spot.

Kakashi's eye widened in shock.

"What the fu.." Kakashi couldn't even finish his sentence when he felt a sandal on his face.

Naruto smirked triumphantly, until Kakashi, turned into a log.

"Shit, Kawarimi no jutsu." Naruto said out loud.

'Damn he moves fast! I barely managed to pulled that one on time.' Kakashi thought as he eyed Naruto from a tree.

"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei. I thought you where going to show me a thing or two about taijutsu!" Naruto screamed out loud as if to be looking for him.

Naruto felt his sensei's chakra signature rushing towards him and dodged a punch aimed at his face.

Then he dodge a kick aimed for his stomach.

Kakashi kept launching attacks and Naruto dodged accordingly, while Kakashi did the same as Naruto launched his attacks.

'If he could dodge this many attacks, I might have to start getting serious.' Kakashi thought.

Just as he was about to try another tactic, Naruto showed an opening.

Kakashi smirked.

'Perfect!' he thought.

Kakashi disappeared from his view and appeared behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Naruto yelled in surprise.

"A ninja isn't suppose to get caught from behind." Kakashi said as he placed his hands in the tiger seal.

'Oh shit, That teme's up to something! He isn't just running around.' Sasuke thought.

"Naruto! Get out of there! Your going to get killed!" Sakura yelled getting Naruto's attention.

"Too late! Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijustu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death!!" Screamed Kakashi.

As soon as his technique connected, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Kage-Bunshin!?" Kakashi yelled in surprise.

A pair of hands rose from the ground and got a hold of Kakashi's ankles.

"Shit!" Kakashi screamed.

'that's my cue.' thought Sakura.

Sakura jumped from her hiding place and ran towards Kakashi with a kunai at hand.

'Oh crap, I don't have enough time to escape.' He thought.

He was expecting for her to attack him, but she threw the kunai several feet away from his location.

A wire was cut and a barrage of kunai headed his way.

'…This won't end well.' Kakashi thought just before he was impaled by at least eight kunai.

While Kakashi hissed in pain, Sakura used it as a distraction and managed to grab a bell before being Punched a few feet away.

Kakashi managed to get free from Naruto's hold and jumped into the forest.

Naruto used this as a chance to check up on Sakura.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Sakura started to laugh triumphantly as she picked herself up from the floor.

She looked at Naruto, wiped the blood off her face and showed him the bell.

"What do you think Naruto? Did I do okay?" She asked while she rubbed her swollen cheek.

"You did great Sakura-chan! Go ahead and rest. I'll carry out the rest of the plan." Sakura nodded and headed towards a tree to rest.

'Damn it! I underestimated them.' Kakashi thought as he pulled out the last kunai from his body.

'It seems like Naruto worked well with Sakura, but he still needs to learn to work together as a team. At least I don't have to worry about Sakura anymore.'

Kakashi scanned the area for chakra signatures and found out that Sasuke was his closest target.

'Might as well, test this one.'

Kakashi used a genjutsu around Sasuke.

At first, Sasuke started to feel funny, then he found out that he was in a totally different part of the forest.

'What the hell?' he thought.

"S-Sasuke." a weak voice said that sounded like Sakura.

Sasuke turned his head around and was shocked at what he saw.

Right in front of him, Sakura was laying there with a whole lot of kunai and shuriken embedded inside her body.

"H-Help me S-Sasuke. Please!" Sasuke looked at the scene and he thought something was off.

Then it clicked.

"Ok, cut the crap sensei. That's not Sakura."

The current genjutsu dispelled itself and there before him appeared Kakashi.

"Lesson two: Genjutsu. I see that you managed to detect mine. May I ask how you figured it out?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke's lips turned into a smirk.

"Easy, Although you had her voice and facial expressions perfect, you failed to realize one thing. Sakura always calls me Sasuke-kun, never just Sasuke."

Kakashi smiled a bit.

"I see that you are perceptive. But can you get the bell before your friend does?"

"You can count on it!" Sasuke jump forward and started launching his series of attacks.

'Not bad, he's pretty fast for his age, and packs quite a punch.' Kakashi thought as he analyzed his student.

Sasuke jump back and did a series of hand seals.

Kakashi's eyes widen in surprised.

'No way! There's no way in hell he knows that technique at this age. He shouldn't have the amount of chakra required to use it!'

'Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!' Sasuke thought.

Sasuke aimed the fireball at Kakashi and got a direct hit.

Once the fire cleared, there was no sign of the body.

'What the?' Sasuke thought.

He felt a pair of hands on his feet.

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" screamed Kakashi.

"Lesson three: Ninjutsu. Well, you are already heads above the others in this area" Kakashi chuckled as he rubbed Sasuke's hair.

Sasuke smirked and looked up at Kakashi.

"A ninja isn't suppose to leave their guard down, isn't that right Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke said.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and felt a chakra signature rising behind him.

'No way!' Kakashi thought as he turned around.

'If that's Sasuke, then…' Kakashi looked at the Sasuke that was buried underground, only to find that he wasn't there anymore.

Kakashi felt a pair of hands reaching for his feet, but he jumped out of the way.

"That same trick won't work twice!" Kakashi yelled as he landed near a tree.

"Who ever said it would?" Kakashi's eyes widen with surprise as a kunai was placed over his throat.

"What are you doing Sakura, don't you already have a bell?"

"I know your surprised Kakashi-sensei, but just because I already passed doesn't mean that I won't help my other teammates pass." She answered.

Kakashi looked for a way to escape.

He could use kawarimi, but that will only leave him open for Sasuke's attack.

Plus, there was no telling where Naruto is.

"Hand over the bell sensei." Sakura asked.

He had no choice but to comply.

She tossed the bell towards Sasuke and just as he grabbed it, the bell rang.

"Whew, glad that's over. Everybody gather around!" Kakashi ordered.

As soon as they got together Kakashi started speaking.

"Congratulations on getting the bells. You are the first team that has ever managed to succeed in acquiring one, let alone both of them. Mind telling me how you managed to get them?"

"Well," Sakura began, "In order for us to get the first bell, Naruto had to devise a distraction while I prepared a kunai trap that was set up while you where having that taijutsu match. Once I found an opening, I pretended that I was going for you in order to further confuse you, giving me enough time to get a bell." Sakura said.

"The second bell," Sasuke started.

"Was also based on a distraction. While I was caught on the gengutsu, Naruto prepared for the deception. As soon as I finished my Gōkakyu no Jutsu, Naruto used a henge and kawarimi combination in order for him to trick you into using your technique on him."

"I was basically used for a distraction." Naruto continued.

"while Sasuke gathered chakra, Sakura was getting ready for the ambush while I made you think I was going to attack you. "

"That's very good team, but I have one question for you. How did you decide who got the bells?"

"Well, we figured that if we didn't work together, nobody would get the bells." Naruto said.

"So I decided to take the dive. It's better to have at least two people pass than none, right? Besides, It's not the first time I've failed an exam." He said with a cheesy grin.

Kakashi looked at his current team.

He couldn't help smile with pride.

"Congratulations Team, you all pass."

"Huh?" Naruto acted surprised.

Kakashi's smile widened and continued.

"You're the first team to actually put your differences aside and work together as a team to accomplish a goal. Sakura, you already had a bell, yet, you helped Naruto and Sasuke acquire the last one."

Kakashi turned his attention to a stone with names written on it.

"Look at this stone. All the names you see here are ninjas that have been recognized as heroes of the village."

Naruto saddened at the thought, he knew where this was going.

"But these are not normal heroes. These are heroes who died in the line of duty. My best friend's name is also in this stone."

The current team fell into a state of depression.

"Before he died, my friend once told me this. Those who break the rules are trash, but you know what? Those who don't care for their comrades are lower than trash! Based on what I've seen with your performance, I can happily say that you guys are ready to begin your Genin career."

Team seven looked up at their sensei with admiration in their eyes.

"Congratulations, as of tomorrow, Team seven will be on active duty!"

"YES! We did it guys! We are officially Genins now!" Naruto screamed with joy.

Sakura jumped happily on top of Sasuke and punched her hand in the air.

"Hell yeah! With our teamwork, nobody will be able to stop us!" She yelled.

Sasuke smirked at the thought of being unstoppable but quickly brought Sakura down and away from him.

"Make sure you guys get plenty of rest, out team will meet here at 0800 hours, dismissed."

The following morning, two members of team seven where waiting patiently at the bridge.

They had gotten there five minutes early and where still trying to fully shake off their sleepiness.

Sakura yawn lightly.

"Ohayo Sasuke-kun, How long have you been here?" She asked.

Sasuke turned his head slowly and addressed the question.

"I say about two minutes, tops. I hope They're not late like last time."

Sakura blushed a little remembering the incident with Naruto.

"They better not! I won't stand for irresponsible people." She said.

Naruto appeared right on time and greeted his teammates.

"Ohayo Sakura-chan, Sasuke. You guys ready for our first mission?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face.

"Sure, lets just see if your up for the challenge dobe." Sasuke replied.

Naruto laughed lightheartedly and stretched his muscles a bit.

"Have you guys activated your gravity seals yet?" He asked.

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other to see if they had.

Neither of them showed any indication that they had.

"So I guess that's a no. You guys might as well activate them right now so that you can get used to it, I did it yesterday after our team meeting was over." Naruto said.

"Alright, you said to start off with twice as much gravity, right?" Asked Sakura.

Naruto nodded his head to confirm her inquiry.

"Alright, go ahead. Don't keep me waiting." said Naruto.

Sasuke was the first to move.

He quickly bit his thumb and drew the number two on his left hand.

Sakura did the same, following Sasuke's example.

They waited for a while and nothing happened.

Sasuke and Sakura looked up at Naruto for an explanation.

"You got to put some chakra on the seal once you write down the number. Everything should start working once you do." Naruto answered the implied question.

Sasuke and Sakura did just that and where amazed at what they saw.

The gravity seal appeared on their hand and absorbed the blood. T

he ring surrounding the circle rotated twice around it and locked in place, vanishing from their sight.

"Did it work, I don't really feel any different." Asked Sakura.

Naruto snickered a little bit at the comment.

"Is that so?" He asked. "Come over here then."

Sakura took her first step with her seal activated and quickly felt her foot being pushed down.

She stumbled a bit and landed on her knees.

"Whoa! This feels totally weird! I thought we where going to be heavier, but it just feels like someone is trying to push me to the floor." She said.

Naruto laughed a bit and looked at Sasuke.

"Well, what are you waiting for, try walking Sasuke."

Naruto had to give Sasuke some credit.

He didn't walk perfectly, but Sasuke sure did better than he did when he first developed the jutsu with Sai.

"As Sakura mentioned, your body will feel pretty much the same if you stand still, but you will feel a difference when you move around. The purpose of this seal is to increase our strength and speed. You don't even have to train much, Everyday movements will make your body stronger, although I recommend that we do train to get used to it." Naruto said.

Sakura was not enjoying this at all.

She was having trouble keeping her balance and kept falling to her knees.

Sasuke would help her up at times and would suffer the consequences when he did.

"Naruto! How long before we get used to this?!" Sasuke asked, clearly irritated.

"Give it some time Sasuke. You will get the hang of walking after a few hours, but It will take a couple of weeks before you'll be able to move like you used to." Naruto answered.

Sasuke grumbled some incoherent words under his breath.

While team seven was trying to get used to the gravity, Kakashi appeared near the bridge to greet his team.

"Ohayo! How is everyone doing today?" Kakashi greeted as he pulled out his orange book.

Sakura turned around to look at her sensei.

"Your Late again sensei! That's three times in a row! You better have a good excuse this time!" Sakura yelled.

"Oh but I do. I had to go register the three of you to be official Genin. I also had to pick up our mission for today." Kakashi replied honestly for once.

Sakura lightened up at hearing the word mission and asked, "So what type of mission did we get sensei?"

"I will give you the mission briefing once we arrive at the location, but first," Kakashi said with a twinkle in his eye, "We are going to do some light exercises."

Kakashi had both Sakura and Sasuke's full attention at hearing the word exercises.

"What are we going to do?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto was just laughing inwardly at his teammates misfortune.

"Well, just something we will be doing everyday to get our blood pumping in the mornings. I want you guys to run one lap around the border of Konoha and meet me back over here." Kakashi said simply.

Both Sasuke and Sakura paled at the thought.

'That's at least four miles, and with the gravity seal it's going to be a lot harder!' Sakura thought.

'If I can't do this, I'll never be strong enough to defeat…Him.' Sasuke thought.

'It won't be easy, with three times normal gravity, but I have more experience with it then they do.' Naruto thought.

To say they where having trouble was an understatement.

They had to stop five times to catch their breath.

Naruto seemed more beat than the others, but he was still smiling every step of the way.

'If this keeps up,' Naruto thought, 'we will defiantly be better prepared for the Chunin exams.'

Once they made it back at the bridge, Kakashi began talking.

"Good job! Now that you're here, I want you guys to do one hundred push ups, one hundred sit ups, and one hundred squats. After that we can start the mission."

'God damn it!' Sasuke yelled in his mind.

Sakura paled but decided that the sooner she finished, the sooner she could start the mission.

All three students where pretty much wiped out when they where done with their exercises.

"How do you guys feel?" Kakashi asked.

"Can't you tell by looking at us sensei?" replied Naruto as he wiped the sweat out of his face.

"Hai, well what do you say if we get the mission underway?" Kakashi asked his students.

Right now, they all seemed like they would rather lay down on the floor and rest, but since it was their first mission, they perked up quickly.

"I can't wait!" said Sakura with enthusiasm.

Kakashi let his team to a nearby park and stopped all of a sudden.

"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Sakura.

"We're here!" He said, as if they arrived to the world's greatest party.

"Are we going to meet the client here?" Sasuke asked.

"No no, our current mission is to clean up the sure every piece of trash is picked up from the floor." Stated Kakashi.

There was an eerie silence.

"THAT'S our mission!?" yelled Sakura.

"It's stupid, aren't we suppose to guard people, deliver important documents, track missing-nins and things of that sort?" Sasuke asked

"Hai, we do have some missions that are like those. Some are even more dangerous, but as of right now, you guys are the lowest rank of ninjas. You have to get some experience in your belt before we can get a decent mission." Kakashi said.

"…and you think the best way to gain experience is to pick up trash?" Sakura deadpanned.

"Come on guys, it isn't that bad." Naruto said.

Sasuke looked at his current task and sweat dropped.

"Not that bad!? Did you even look at all the trash that's here? It looks like a tornado recently passed through here!" Sasuke yelled with annoyance.

His rant went through deaf ears.

Naruto had already started picking up trash.

Sasuke sighed.

'This really sucks. I already did a hundred squats with the stupid seal activated, now I have to bend down and pick up all this shit!' he thought.

He and Sakura went to work.

By the time they where done, their whole bodies where sore to the point where it hurt to breathe.

"Good work team! Mission accomplished! We don't have anymore duties today, so you are all free for the rest of the day." Kakashi said and vanished after a twirl of leaves appeared before him.

"So, do you guys want to keep training?" Asked Naruto.

Sakura quickly shook her head.

"Are you crazy! I'm dead tired. I'm going home to get some beauty sleep. You can do whatever you want Naruto." she said as she headed towards her house.

"I would train with you, but she has a point. Anymore training and I'll damage my body more than I'll help it. I'll see you tomorrow dobe." Sasuke said as he headed towards his house.

Naruto thought for a moment and got an idea.

_"Hinata-chan, __It's__ Naruto. Are you busy right now?" _Naruto asked.

"_Hello Naruto-kun! My team and I are getting ready to __practice,__ will you be joining us today?" _She asked with a hopeful voice.

"_I'll be over there in a couple of minutes. I'm pretty tired __though,__ I might just sit back and watch." _Naruto said.

"_Oh, okay Naruto-kun. Do you know where we are practicing?" _Hinata asked.

"_Yeah, I saw your team earlier at training ground eight while I was running my lap around Konoha. I'm assuming that's where you train right?"_

"_That is correct Naruto-kun. I'll be waiting for your arrival." _Hinata said as she finished her conversation with Naruto.

As soon as he finished the conversation, Naruto used the Shunshin No Jutsu to arrive there.

Kurenai was observing her team when all of a sudden, she felt a chakra signature that she couldn't place heading her way.

A few leaves gathered up next to her and Naruto appeared with a grin on his face.

"Konnichiwa Kurenai-sensei! I see that your evaluating your students right now." Naruto said as he looked at Shino go toe to toe against Kiba.

Hinata was currently watching the match with Akamaru on her lap.

She hasn't noticed Naruto's presence.

Kurenai looked at Naruto with shock.

"Naruto, Where did you learn that technique? Normal Genins shouldn't know that move yet."

"Well, I'm not a normal Genin now, am I?" He said while raising and lowering his eyebrows.

"Your full of surprises, I'll give you that. Did you come here to train with us?" Kurenai asked.

"Actually, I'm pretty beat right now, I just came to see what you guys where up to." Naruto said.

"You don't mind If I sit down and watch the match, do you?"

"Of course not, be my guest." Kurenai said.

Naruto bowed respectfully and then walked toward Hinata's spot.

"So who's winning?" Naruto asked as he said down next to Hinata.

The said girl turned her head around in shock and blushed when she felt Naruto's shoulder come in contact with hers.

"N-Naruto-kun? H-How did y-you get h-here so f-fast?" she asked timidly.

"Oh that's my little secret." He said with a wink. "

So, did you already have a match with one of those guys?"

"N-No actually, I'm supposed to go n-next. My o-opponent is Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said as she twirled her index fingers in front of her.

"Oh really?" Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

"Kurenai-sensei! Can I have a request?" Naruto yelled at Kurenai, who in turn walked towards Naruto and said.

"Did you want to practice after all?" She said.

"Yeah, I do, but only if I go against Hinata-chan." Naruto said.

Hinata's eyes widen with surprise.

"A-Ano, Naruto-kun, I don't t-think I'm strong enough to g-go up against you." She said.

"Don't worry about that Hinata, This is training after all. If you think your not strong enough yet, I'll make sure you get stronger!" Naruto said giving her a huge grin.

Hinata looked at Naruto, then she look towards Kurenai to see if she would agree.

"Alright, that's fine. You too could go ahead and start, those two over there need a break." Kurenai said.

Kurenai placed two fingers in her lips and blew out a whistle.

Kiba and Shino stopped their advances and lowered their guard.

They started heading towards the rest area and noticed that Naruto was walking up to them with Hinata.

"Well if it isn't my favorite blond in Konoha. What brings you here ?" Kiba said while rubbing his nose.

"I came here to test my abilities up against your team. I'm not at my full potential right now, so you'll have to wait another day for our match." Naruto said.

"Heh, even at your fullest, you won't be a match against me, but I'll hold you to that offer. I'll be watching your match closely." he said as he continued to his destination.

Shino looked at Naruto with an impassive stare, and Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You might fool my partner, but I can feel more power coming from you than you let on. I'll be looking forward to testing my abilities against you." Shino said in a monotone voice.

Naruto smiled and scratched his head.

"He he, cant fool you huh? Alright, I'll hold you to that." Shino nodded and followed Kiba to the rest area.

Naruto turned his head toward Hinata.

"You ready to begin Hinata-chan?" He asked.

She bowed and said, "Hai Naruto-kun, I'll do my best."

Hinata dropped to her juken stance while Naruto looked impassively toward Hinata.

"Come at me whenever your ready Hinata-chan."

Hinata charged towards Naruto and tried a juken strike, but Naruto dodged it.

She tried another and he dodge it again.

This kept going for quite a while.

'Hinata has Naruto on the defensive, there's not much he can do is she keeps this up.' Kiba thought

"Come on Hinata, you can do better than this." Naruto taunted.

"H-Hai, Naruto-kun, I'll try harder!" She said, not going back on her word either.

Her speed increased and she packed more chakra into her palms, making it more difficult to dodge each attack.

Naruto was forced to Push away her arms at times, but he kept going with his defensive stance.

'Ok, time for me to start attacking.' Naruto thought.

Naruto dodged some of Hinata's attacks while he launched some of his own, causing her to jump back for some space.

Hinata was breathing pretty hard now.

'What else could I do? He's too fast for me to land a successful hit.' She thought.

While she was brainstorming on what to do, Naruto was standing still, giving her enough time to think.

Hinata took a deep breath and changed her stance.

Naruto eyes widened, 'Oh crap…'

"I'm sorry Naruto, but your in my field of divination." She said in a low voice.

"Hakke Sanjūni Shō!" She shouted as she dashed towards Naruto.

"Two strikes!" She said as she hit Naruto twice.

"Four strikes!" again, Naruto was hit.

"Eight strikes, Sixteen strikes, Thirty Two strikes!" She said, each strike aimed with precision at each one of Naruto's chakra points.

By the time she was done, Naruto laid down on the floor, twitching a little after being hit so many times.

"Holy Shit!" Kiba exclaimed.

"I've never seen Hinata attack anybody like that!" he commented at nobody in particular.

Shino dumbly nodded his head, silently agreeing with his partner.

"….N-Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" She asked while she got closer to Naruto's motionless body.

"N-Naruto-kun!?" She waited for a response.

Still nothing.

"Naruto-kun, say something!" She practically yelled.

She was definitely getting worried.

Naruto didn't even move a muscle.

She moved quickly towards Naruto and kneeled down in front of him.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to hurt you. Wake up. Please wake up!" She choked on her words as her body shook nervously.

Her eyes began to water and she started sobbing on his chest.

"Damn Hinata-chan, that fucking hurt…" Naruto said with a weak voice as he looked up at Hinata.

He gave her a smile when she turn her head and looked at him with a worried expression.

"Hey there, you don't look so good, are you ok?" He asked as placed his hand on her cheek and wiped away her tear with his thumb.

Hinata smiled and gave him a hug.

"Damn you Naruto-kun! Don't scare me like that! I thought I killed you!" She said as she sobbed on his shoulder.

Naruto wrapped one arm around her and patted her back to comfort her.

"Hey don't worry about it. I'm okay. It takes a lot more than that to get rid of me. Please don't cry. I hate it when you cry."

Hinata tightened her grip and sat there hugging him, trying to control her sobbing while he gave her sweet reassurances.

They stayed in that position for a couple of minutes until Hinata calmed down a little.

As soon as Kurenai saw that Hinata was calm, she decided to get their attention.

"Ahem." Kurenai coughed.

Naruto and Hinata looked up to see Kurenai's evil smirk and they both blushed.

"Well, I can't say that this practice session went smoothly, but it ended with a touchy moment, don't you think?" She said while chuckling at their current discomfort.

Hinata quickly pulled back and stood up.

"G-Gomennasai!" She said as she bowed to her sensei while blushing madly.

Kurenai laughed at the scene.

"It's alright Hinata. You did well today. Just try not to go too overboard next time, ok?" She smiled as she ruffled Hinata's hair.

"Naruto, do you think you need any medical treatment?" Kurenai asked as she analyzed the extent of Naruto's damage.

Naruto laid down again and looked up at the sky.

"No, I'll be fine. Just let my lie down here for a few minutes." He said.

Kurenai nodded.

"Ok, I think that's enough practice for today. We have a mission tomorrow and I expect you three to be at your best." She said as she addressed her team.

"We will meet here at the same time we met today. You are free to go." she said.

Shino and Kiba left towards their home.

"That means you too. I expect you to get some rest Hinata." Kurenai said.

"B-But Naruto-kun…" She said as she looked at the spot where Naruto was lying down.

Naruto raised his hand.

"I'll be alright Hinata-chan, go ahead and get some rest." he said out loud.

Hinata reluctantly left towards her home while Naruto laid there recovering for his last practice session.

"What a day." Naruto said out loud.

He got up from his current position and limped his way towards his apartment.

* * *

**Flashback

* * *

**

_Sakura paced worriedly back and fourth. She couldn't remember how long it has been since Sasuke had been brought to the council for trial._

"_Calm down Sakura. Everything will be over with soon. Just sit down and try to keep your mind occupied on something else." Naruto said, trying to calm his anxious friend._

"_How can I calm down while I know for a fact that his life's in danger! I just feel like I should be in there doing something, you know? I mean he could be put to death for all we know and we can't do anything..." Sakura said tears comeing down her face as she talked._

"_Hey, don't worry. Tsunade baa-chan would never do that to him or us. Have a little bit more faith in __her,__ If not then have faith in Sasuke. That he'll make it threw" Naruto said._

_Sakura sighed and reluctantly sat down, rubbing her eyes with worry. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."_

_Naruto and Sakura where currently sitting down in the waiting room of the council office. They have been there for at least half a day. After a few more hours, Shizune came from one of the halls and addressed the two._

"_Naruto, Sakura, you may see Sasuke now. Follow me." They didn't have to be told twice. Jumping up both of them followed her to the intended room. _

_Once they arrived, Tsunade walked out of the room and closed the door lightly._

"_How is he, is he alright? Did everything turn out ok?" Sakura asked frantically._

"_Calm down Sakura, the trial was a total success. He's waiting for you as we speak." __Said Tsunade as she calmly filled out a few forms.__ "You can go in if you like."_

_As they walked in they saw Sasuke on the floor looking at them. The biggest grin on his face as they all broke into tears and laughter.

* * *

_

**End Flashback

* * *

**

Naruto was rudely awaken to the sound of an annoying alarm clock.

He looked up from his current position and groaned lightly.

'Damn it, it's morning already?' he thought as he got up from his bed and stopped the annoying sound.

He yawned heavily and proceeded with his morning routine.

'I wonder what type of mission we'll have today.'

Once Naruto had everything he needed, he left his apartment and headed towards team seven's meeting place.

* * *

_Meanwhile, at the bridge

* * *

_

"So I was thinking maybe later on when the mission is over, we could grab a bite to eat, what do you say?" Sakura said to Sasuke as she looked at the floor timidly waiting for his answer.

Sasuke continued looking at the river, seemingly ignoring Sakura's request.

Sakura sighed and placed her hands on the bridge's railing.

"You know, we really haven't been hanging around each other after missions. It could be fun if we see one another more often when we are not on duty. It feels like we are only together because we have to be." Sakura said as she sulked at the idea.

Sasuke signed and turned towards Sakura.

"Sakura, don't take this the wrong way, but with all the things we have been doing as a team, the only free time we have is when we head home to get some rest. We have been doing everything together, even when we don't have missions, we spend all of our time training."

Sakura didn't move from her spot.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and he could see that she was trying her best not to cry right now.

Sasuke mentally sighed and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura, if our schedule lightens up a bit, I'll take you somewhere to eat." he said.

"You mean it Sasuke-kun?" She asked hopefully.

"Hai." Sasuke replied with a smile.

Sakura jumped from her spot and hugged Sasuke fiercely.

"Oh thank you Sasuke-kun!"

"Don't get too excited." Said Sasuke.

"It's not that I like you or anything but I want to try and be your friend and see where that leads us. Also if things keep up the way they are, I doubt we will find any free time soon."

Sasuke did have a point.

Even if it hurt.

The past month have been pretty rough for team seven.

After their first mission, Kakashi made it a priority to make sure they get as much experience as Genins as possible.

On average, Team 7 took four missions a day.

Naruto's training wasn't helping their situation either.

And the fact of the matter was that Sasuke knew next to noting about her and she knew he would never like someone whom he didn't even know.

Back to the matter, Naruto insisted on teaching each of them a technique for their affinities.

For Sakura, he decided to teach her Doton: Doryūheki, a technique in witch The user spits out a stream of mud that quickly grows and solidifies into a strong, protective wall.

For Sasuke, he decided to give him a head start with the Chidori, Kakashi's original technique.

Naruto was currently approaching the bridge with his usual cheesy grin and greeted his teammates.

"Ohayo! Did you guys sleep well?" asked Naruto.

"I'm not even going to say anything anymore. You should know what time your suppose to get here." said Sakura.

"Gomen Sakura-chan, but I figured I could use the extra hour of sleep since Kakashi-sensei is always late anyways." he said wisely.

A swirl of leaves appeared before them and Kakashi appeared with a happy attitude.

"Ohayo!" he greeted with a cheery voice, eerily similar to Naruto's earlier greeting.

"Where you guys just talking about me?"

Sakura glared at her sensei and turned her head disapprovingly.

If Kakashi was fazed by it, he sure didn't show it.

"We need to report to the Hokage's office to accept a new mission today, So make sure you head over there ASAP. I'll be waiting." And just like that, Kakashi disappeared leaving a set of swirling leaves behind.

"I swear, one of these days, I'm going to kill him for leaving us behind!" Sakura said.

"I suggest we start moving. You never know if the next mission might be important." Naruto advised.

And so, team seven headed towards the Hokage's office.

Once they arrived, they found Kakashi reading his favorite book, giving off a perverted laugh.

Naruto coughed to get his attention, and leaded the way towards the office.

Once they arrived, Kakashi greeted the guards and let his team through.

"Oh, Ohayo team seven. What brings you here this morning?" Sarutobi asked.

"Ohayo Hokage-sama. We came here to request a mission." Kakashi said as he bowed down to show respect.

"I see, well, amongst the missions available, we have either cleaning the park, picking out weeds on the sidewalk, herding the Nara clan's deer…"

"Old Man, Is there anything we could do that's not a D rank mission?" Naruto interrupted.

Sarutobi was surprised with Naruto's politeness. Witch he could see even if others couldn't.

"Naruto! You shouldn't complain about your missions. Everybody starts off like this." Kakashi said.

"Sorry sensei, but I agree with Naruto. We have been doing nothing but D rank missions for the pass month, we should have more than enough experience to take on something better." Sakura said.

"I agree. I would like my abilities to be put to better use." Sasuke said.

"Are you sure you are prepared for such an endeavor?" Sarutobi asked the students.

"Hai!" they replied in unison.

Sarutobi took a puff of smoke from his pipe and breathed out heavily.

"Very well, I do have a C rank mission available." he said while looking for the certain mission report.

Once he found it, he continued briefing team seven.

"Your mission is to protect a bridge builder from the Country of Wave. You will keep this person safe until the bridge is finished, or he no longer seeks protection. I will introduce you to this man." Sarutobi said as he pressed a buzzer from his desk.

"Send him in."

An old man with glasses and a tan came walking in.

You can tell the man was recently drinking, if not by the smell, then by the bottle on his hand.

"Eh, what's this? I ask for protection and I get a bunch of kids? Aren't they a little young to be playing ninja?" said the old man.

Sasuke smirked.

"Aren't you a little too old to be drinking?" he countered.

The man glared at Sasuke.

"That kid has some spunk in him. I hope you three kids will be enough to protect me." he said.

"Don't worry about them. They may be young, but they are well suited for this type of mission." Kakashi said.

The man nodded his head in acceptance.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna, I expect you to protect me until my bridge is completed." the man said.

"Of course Tazuna-sama, we will be more than happy to comply." Sakura bowed showing respect.

"I like this kid, she knows her place." Tazuna said.

Sakura gave him an evil glare for that remark, 'Who the hell does he think he is?' She thought. 'He's lucky I didn't snap and kick his ass after hearing that!'

Kakashi addressed his team and proceeded with instructions.

"Team seven, meet at the west gate in thirty minutes. Pack everything you will need for a long trip. Until then, you are dismissed." Kakashi said as he took his leave.

Tazuna and team seven quickly followed.

Thirty minutes later, Naruto arrived at the west gate.

He was greeted by Tazuna and his team.

Once everybody double checked their equipment, they were off.

Sakura was very excited.

It was her first time out of the village's gates and she could hardly keep herself from jumping with glee.

"Alright! This mission is so cool! Not only do we get to protect someone, we get to go site seeing!"

"Calm yourself Sakura." Kakashi said.

"This isn't a vacation. Keep your guard up at all times. You never know what could happen."

"Yeah yeah, I know Kakashi-sensei. I'll keep my eyes sharp as I enjoy the scenery." she said.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's the best formation to help ensure Tazuna-san's safety?" Naruto asked seriously.

"Well, since this is just a C rank mission, I really didn't have that much planned, But if you feel more comfortable moving in a formation, you could be in the front." He replied.

"Sasuke, Sakura! Make sure you walk next to Tazuna to have him protected from the sides, I'll guard him from the rear."

"Hai, Kakashi." Sasuke and Sakura answered in unison. Sakura adding -sensei to the end of Kakashi.

"Leave it to sensei to think of the most perverted way to issue orders." Naruto remarked.

"Shut up Naruto, this was your idea." Kakashi said.

"So, Tazuna-sama," Sakura began, totally ignoring her team's banter.

"Are they any ninja's in Wave Country?"

"Ninjas? Ha-ha…That's funny." Tazuna said.

"Do you think I would come all the way over here to hire ninjas if we had some in Wave Country?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

"I was just curious, sorry if I didn't know that fact about a country I've never heard of."

"Gees, don't take it personal, I was just teasing." Tazuna said apologetic for his remark. "No, we don't have any ninjas, not any from our country anyway. You might find a few mercenary ninjas once in a while," he paused for a bit as if to shake off a memory, "but no, we don't have any official ninjas there."

Sasuke scoffed.

"If there are no ninjas there, why do you seek protection?" he asked.

"Sasuke, don't question the man's decision. If he feels safer with us there, then so be it. Just focus on your mission and keep a look out for any danger." Kakashi said.

"…Fine." Sasuke replied and continued walking in silence.

Tazuna was sweating bullets.

He was glad that this Kakashi character interrupted the kid's question.

He really didn't want them to know that ninja's where after him.

Team seven and Tazuna continued walking in silence, mostly enjoying the warm day and scenery.

They came across a puddle, in witch Kakashi noticed but seemingly ignored it and kept walking.

Naruto, noticing the puddle before Kakashi, waited until they where a few feet ahead to inform his team.

_"Oi, Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan, __Can__ you hear me?" _Naruto asked while activating the seal.

"_What is it dobe?" _Sasuke asked a bit irritated.

_"Yeah Naruto, what's the matter? Did you find something?" _Sakura asked.

"_Yes I did as a matter of fact, Did you guys see the puddle we passed a couple of seconds ago?" _Naruto said.

"_Yeah I saw it, What about it?" _Sasuke asked.

"_Don't you think it was a bit off?" _Naruto said.

"_Now that you mention it, __It__ does feel a bit off. It's pretty sunny today and it doesn't look like it rained a couple of days ago." _Sakura replied.

Sasuke put two and two together and smirked.

_"So, there are ninjas trailing us. Alright, now that we know, we'll be prepared for when they strike. Leave this to me __dobe,__ I want to test out my abilities."_

"_Fine with me, I'll back you up if __your__ in trouble." _Naruto said.

"_As if he's going to need your help Naruto!__ Sasuke-kun is the best. Those ninjas will be lucky if they stay alive!" _Sakura yelled.

"_Yeah yeah, whatever you say Sakura-chan. Just stay close to Tazuna. Also, since I was able to notice something was wrong, I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei noticed it too, so don't worry about him. Get __ready,__ they will make their move soon." _Said Naruto.

Once they broke their communication, they slowly moved in closer to Tazuna.

Kakashi saw this and inwardly smiled.

He was very pleased that every single one of them noticed the Genjutsu.

His thoughts, however where interrupted by two mist nins that had a deadly chain connected to each other's gauntlets.

They wrapped the chain around Kakashi and apparently sliced his body into several pieces.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura screamed.

"One down!" said on of the mist nins.

"Your number two, kid!" The other one yelled at Naruto while he sped up towards him.

Naruto kept his eyes focused on the opponent who was rushing towards him with an outstretched gauntlet.

Once he was close enough, Naruto side stepped and powerfully swung his elbow to the mist nin's face.

The mist nin was send flying towards a tree.

While this was happening, Sasuke was calmly dodging the other nin's punches, that is, until the said mist nin was pulled away by the chain when his partner was sent soaring into a tree.

Sasuke smirked and pulled out two kunai that where tied off with a wire.

He effortlessly threw them towards the mist nin that was by the tree and tied him up.

Once he was secure, he did a series of hand seals.

'Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!' Sasuke yelled in his mind.

Sasuke breathed out fire along the wire and his attack hit his opponent head on.

The mist nin screamed in agony before he fainted.

Sasuke turned his head around and looked at the mist nin's partner.

"That only leaves you." Sasuke said with a cocky smile.

"Kuso!" Was all the mist nin said.

He detached the chain with a push of a button and rushed towards him.

Sasuke was expecting some sort of attack, but the mist nin only dodged Sasuke's counter attack and kept rushing towards Tazuna.

"Sakura! Watch out! He's heading towards you!" Sasuke yelled.

Sakura was already prepared to defend Tazuna.

She had her kunai in front of her, ready to deflect any attack thrown at her.

"DIE!" yelled the mist nin.

Sakura widen her eyes in shock at what she saw.

Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the mist nin in a one handed headlock, seemingly knocking him out.

"Kakashi-sensei! Your alive!" Sakura yelled with joy.

"Hai, sorry I scared you Sakura, but as you can see, I'm fine." Kakashi said.

"By the way team, good job! All of you did well with your first real battle, you each acted accordingly under pressure and didn't freeze up. I'm proud of you guys."

"It was nothing Kakashi-sensei, all in a days work!" Naruto said as he did his trademark smile.

"Tazuna, can I ask why you have two Chunin Mist ninja's after you?" Kakashi said calmly as he got Tazuna's attention.

"W-What do you mean?" He gulped audibly.

"I mean, Tazuna-sama, why did we have to protect you from two mist ninjas who are currently higher in rank than my team? Don't you know that giving false information on a mission request can greatly affect the success ratio?" Kakashi said.

"I should report back to Konoha and have this mission canceled. This is way out of our league. You will of course get a full refund, but I can't continue this mission knowing now of the current situation."

"Please don't! I'm sorry I didn't include this information!" Tazuna said

"I know It's necessary, but right now, our country is in a state of crisis. We don't have enough money to pay for the required protection that was needed. Please, I beg of you continue with this mission. Once the bridge is completed, it will bring wealth to our land. We promise to pay you back in full, with interest even!"

Kakashi looked at Tazuna and weighted out his choices.

"I tell you what, if my team is up for it, we will continue the mission. If not, we go back, cancel this mission and give you a full refund, and then you can request a mission with the proper information."

Tazuna looked at team seven with pleading eyes.

"I say we go for it." Naruto said.

"We are already more than halfway there, it will only be foolish if we go back and waste Tazuna-san's time."

"You are aware that they will send Jounin level nins right?" Kakashi said.

"In that case, I'm in. I can use the practice." Sasuke said.

"I guess I'm in too. Besides, we handled ourselves pretty good back there, you said so yourself Kakashi-sensei. I'm not about to back down now that we are this far." Sakura said.

Kakashi sighed.

'Damn teenagers, why do they always think they are invincible. A Jounin isn't a walk in the park. Their lives will be in great danger. Oh well, I'm outnumbered three to one, I can't back out now.'

"You heard them Tazuna, we will continue with the mission."

"Oh thank you so much! I am in your debt!" Tazuna said.

Team seven continued walking until they arrived on Wave Country's border.

They had to wait until a ferry arrived.

Once it did, they got in and slowly continued to their destination.

Sasuke let out an audible sigh.

"It's really misty in here. This is bad for my hair." he said.

Naruto stiffened a laugh.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "What?" he asked.

Naruto chuckled at this.

"I thought only Sakura would be complaining about her hair, but not you."

"Shut-up dobe! Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I don't take care of my hair!"

"Hey, keep it quiet!" the ferry man whispered loudly.

"Why do you think I don't have the engine running. We'd be in big trouble if Gatou finds us."

After that, everybody stopped talking all together.

Sasuke was really embarrassed.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't noticed when he made his last comment out loud until it was too late.

"Umm, Who's Gatou?" Sakura asked in a whisper.

"Gatou," Tazuna started, "Is one of the world's most wealthiest people. Officially, he runs his own shipping company. But he also secretly sells drugs and other illegal items, using ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's one nasty fellow."

Tazuna paused to see if they where listening, once he was satisfied, he continued.

"About a year ago, Gatou set his eyes on Wave Country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the shipping industry. Over the year, he manage to get a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing than stands in his way is the completion of the bridge."

"I see, since your building the bridge, that makes you a liability." Sakura said.

"So he was the one who hired the ninjas to kill you, right?" Sasuke asked.

"That is correct. If the bridge is finished, it will bring other means for trade, effectively ending his control over us. That's why he sees me as a threat."

"Don't worry Tazuna-san." Naruto said.

"We will protect you until the bridge is completed. We can't let that man keep doing this to your country. Once the bridge is built, his tyranny will end."

"Thanks kid. I appreciate your help." Tazuna replied.

The ferry continued it's path until it stopped on a nearby shore.

"This is as far as I can take you, any closer and I'll be putting us in too much risk. Be safe Tazuna." said the ferry man.

"Come this way," Tazuna said.

"I will take you to my house to rest, it's the least I can do for you."

Team seven followed Tazuna through a dirt path.

'He's close' Naruto thought.

'I barely feel his chakra signature, but I know he's close.'

"Get Down!" Yelled Kakashi as he pulled Tazuna down with him.

Team seven, except for Naruto, dropped on the floor.

Naruto turned around and leaned back a little, effectively dodging a giant sword that went sailing by.

The said sword embedded itself in a tree and on top of it stood a tall figure, who by all means, looked scary as shit in hell.

He had a tilted mist forehead protector and wrappings around his mouth.

You could see his sculpt muscles since he didn't have a shirt on, giving off a menacing vibe.

Sakura and Sasuke where petrified with fear at the moment.

Kakashi looked at the figure and paled.

'Shit! Why him! My team is too inexperienced for him right now. I'm going to have to do this alone.'

"Well well, If it isn't the Mist's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza." He said, giving off a wave of indifference.

"…" Zabuza glared at Kakashi.

"You're the copy-cat nin, Hatake Kakashi, are you not?" Zabusa asked, keeping his glare on him.

"That I am." Kakashi replied.

"I'm sorry, but the old man is mine."

* * *

Yes I've redone and edited the story a bit.

Hope you like it.

* * *

**Edit: 12/06/09

* * *

**

_**Parings so far:**_

* * *

**ShinoXKiba**

**KankuroXMatsuri**

**IrukaXShizune**

**KakashiXAnko**

**ShikamaruXIno**

**ChojiXAyame**

**AsumaXKurenai**

**KonoharmaruXHinabi**

**Naruto X Temari X Fem Haku X Hinata X Fem Gaara X Tenten X Fem Neji X OC  
**

**LeeXSakura**

**SasukeXOC**


	2. Relive

**I do not own Naruto. Or most of this story.**

"You're the famous copy-cat Hatake Kakashi, are you not?" Zabuza asked, making sure that his glare was aimed at him.

"Last time I looked I was." Kakashi replied.

"I'm sorry, but that the old man is mine."

Kakashi stared at Zabuza and tried to sort things out. 'I really can't be playing around with him, he's dangerous. I guess I have no choice.'

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, guard Tazuna-san while I take Zabuza down. Make sure he's well protected."

Sasuke and Sakura moved to guard Tazuna, but Naruto didn't move a muscle. He was critically eyeing Zabuza.

"Naruto! Didn't you hear me! I'm not joking here, get your ass over there right now!" Kakashi screamed.

Still, Naruto didn't budge. 'Damn that stubborn kid. I cant fight with my best if I'm worried about him'

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said in a serious tone of voice. "I'll give you a shot at him by yourself, If you don't take him down, I'm going to be forced to step in."

'Thank kami he listened.' Kakashi thought. Naruto turned and slowly walked towards Tazuna. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"Cocky kid you got there, Hatake Kakashi." Zabuza said.

"O don't worry about him" Kakashi said while lifting his headband, revealing an iris red eye. "Your fight is with me!"

Sasuke gasped at the scene. 'No way!' he thought. 'How the hell did he get that?'

"Oh, I get to see the Sharingan? I feel honored."

"Sharingan? What the hell is that? Is that what sensei's eye is called?" Sakura asked.

"Hai, Sakura-chan, That's exactly what it is." Naruto said. "The Sharingan is a bloodline ability that can see and defeat all types of Genjutsu, Taijutsu, and Ninjutsu. But that's not all it does."

"Indeed." stated Zabuza. "The scary part is that it has the ability to copy techniques once it sees. Hatake here is said to have copied over a thousand jutsus."

'Holy shit!' Sakura thought. 'I didn't know he had that kind of power!'

"Hatake, I have nothing against you personally, but if you get in the way of my target, I will be forced to kill you." Zabuza said as he jumped out of the tree, taking his sword with him. Zabuza landed in a nearby lake and started gathering chakra. "Kirigakure no Jutsu!" Zabuza shouted as he enveloped the area in a thick mist.

Kakashi looked around for his target. He couldn't see or sense him anywhere. Then, Zabuza started leaking out a powerful killer intent. Kakashi kept his guard up, seemingly a reflex from experience.

'W-What an intimidating feeling! It feels like I could get killed if I make a single mistake.' Sasuke thought. Little did he know Sakura was having the same line of thought.

Naruto, sensing his friends having trouble withstanding the killer intent, decided to reassure them. "Oi, Sasuke, Sakura, don't let this guy intimidate you." he said. "Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei knows what's he's doing. If anything, you can count on me to protect you guys." He said with a lighthearted tone in his voice.

'Naruto.' Sakura thought in admiration. 'How the hell can you keep such a calm composure at a time like this! Its as though you aren't affected by the killer intent at all.'

"I got five targets, Who should I go for first?" Zabuza's voice rang out from every dirrection.

Everybody but Naruto (of coarse) tensed up. He still had his arms crossed and eyes closed.

'I can't take much more of this, I rather end my own life than give this bastard the pleasure!' Sasuke thought as he raised up his kunai.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi. "Do not worry, I woundn't let anything happen to you guys. I'll protect you with my life."

"Well see about that!" Zabuza appeared right in the middle of the group and was about to kill Tazuna, that is, until Kakashi moved with lightning reflexes and stabbed him in the stomach.

It appeared as if Kakashi got a clean hit, but Zabuza turned into a puddle of water.

"Sensei, behind you!" Sakura screamed.

"Too late!" Zabuza said as he cleanly cut Kakashi in half, only for him to turn into water. 'a Mizu Bunshin? When did he..?' he couldn't finish his thoughts as he felt a sharp kunai on his throat.

"It's over." Kakashi said. Naruto kept quiet. If he made a move now, he would endanger the group. He wisely chose to wait.

Zabuza started laughing. "What the hell is so funny?" Kakashi asked.

"You don't get it do you?" Zabuza asked right back. "It was pretty impressive, copying my technique with all this mist. You even fooled me into thinking you where the real you. But,.." Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. "There's no way you could defeat me that easily!"

Kakashi was stricken with shock. He quickly dispelled the Mizu Bunshin that was in front of him, but he didn't have enough momentum to dodge a kick aimed at his stomach. He was sent soaring straight into the lake.

Kakashi tried to get up, but he noticed something was weird with the water. 'What the hell, the water is heavy.'

"Fool!" Zabuza said.

Kakashi didn't have enough time to act. "Suiro no Jutsu!" said Zabuza.

'Oh no!' Kakashi thought as he was trapped inside a sphere of water.

'Shit! How do I get out?'

"Trying to escape into the water was a big mistake. Now I got you trapped." Said Zabuza. "It makes it harder for me to complete my mission with you in the way. Speaking of witch." Zabuza gathered Chakra and shouted, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." Four Bunshins came up from the water in front of him.

"Finally, now it's my turn!" Naruto said out loud. Kakashi had a panicked look on his face.

"No Naruto! Get out of here! Take Tazuna away from here. He's after him not us, you got to make sure he survives!"

"Gees, Kakashi sensei. You worry too much. I can take him. Besides, I'm not about to leave you here by yourself. Didn't you say abandoning your friends was lower than trash?" Naruto said smiling.

Kakashi kept quiet after that. "Sasuke, Sakura. Don't move unless you have to. I'll take care of him." Naruto started walking towards the Mizu Bunshins.

"Naruto! You can't! He's too strong to beat by yourself! Your going to need our help!" Yelled Sakura.

Naruto stopped and flared a small portion of his chakra. Everybody Instantly looked up at him and froze.

'…N-NO WAY! A snot nosed kid like him shouldn't have that much chakra! It's at least twice as much as mine!' Zabuza thought.

"Like I said, I'll take care of him." Naruto brought his hands up and put his index and middle fingers into a cross.

"Kage Bunshin no Justu!" he yelled. Four shadow clones appeared in front of Naruto. They all started running in a circle, than they jumped in random directions and there was only one Naruto standing there.

He gave a quick smirk and pulled out a kunai. "I should be enough to defeat you!" said Naruto. He rushed towards the Mizu Bunshins and took them on, four on one. The bunshins where having a rough time landing a hit.

'How the hell can this kid dodge all four of my clones? It shouldn't be possible. ' One of the other Narutos jumped out of the forest and started rushing towards Zabuza. Upon seeing this, Zabuza ordered one of his bunshins to attack the Naruto that just appeared. The mizu bunshin complied and went towards him swinging his sword, effectively dispelling Naruto's bunshin.

Another Naruto jumped out of the forest and used the distraction to dispel Two Mizu Bunshins, but got dispelled himself. Now there where two Naruto bunshins against two Zabuza bunshins.

One of the Narutos looked at the other one with a hidden signal, and the other one nodded. The real Naruto rushed towards the Two Mizu bunshins from the forest, while the other Two clones rushed at Zabuza.

'Ha, like that's going to work. I may have one hand busy, but I can still knock them out.' Zabuza thought.

The first Naruto was running head on towards Zabuza, Who in turn prepared to counter his attack. Naruto threw a punch at Zabuza, and without missing a beat, Zabuza went for a punch at his ribs. Unfortunately, Zabuza's attack went right through him.

"What!?" he yelled, effectively loosing his balance. The regular bunshin technique worked flawlessly. The Naruto kage bunshin who was right behind the regular bunshin got a clean hit on Zabuza's jaw, effectively releasing Kakashi from his watery prison.

"W-Wow! Naruto's Amazing!" exclaimed Sakura.

"I can't believe this! The dobe doesn't even have a scratch on him." Sasuke said dejectedly.

"Oi Kakashi, Think you can take care of him for a while?" Naruto asked.

"Don't tell me you lost your will to fight. You where doing great!" Kakashi said.

"No no, it's not that, I got to take care of something else right now." Naruto said as he gave Kakashi a signal with his eyes, pointing at a certain direction.

Kakashi focused his attention over where Naruto pointed, but couldn't feel anything. "You sure?" He asked questionably.

"Yes, I'm sure. So can you take care of this?" he asked again.

"Sure, leave Zabuza to me. Do what you have to do."

"Arigato. Take care of yourself." Naruto said. He then turned around and did a series of hand seals. "Shunshin no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto, and vanished with a swirl of leaves.

A lone figure deep in the forest was currently keeping an eye on the fight. She was very surprised when she felt a huge chakra signature, so she decided to get closer in case Zabuza needed any help. Little did she know that by doing that, despite her experience with espionage, she gave away her position. She felt a sudden chakra signature heading her way and was reaching for a senbon before she felt a kunai at her throat.

"Don't move." Naruto said.

The figure suddenly stopped all of her movements and tensed up. "Please, I do not wish to cause you any trouble. I am a hunter-nin, and I have been assigned to take care of Momochi Zabuza." she said.

Naruto, knowing she was lying, let her go and lowered his defenses. "So you're here to kill Zabuza?" he said. The figure shook her head in the affirmative.

"Then you wont mind if I kill him for you?" Naruto asked as he leaked a massive amount of his own killer intent. The figure froze completely.

'W-What power! T-there's no way I can stand up to something like that!' the figure thought. Naruto relaxed his stance and place a hand on the figure's shoulder.

"I know that your working for him, you don't have to lie to me." he said, removing his hand from her shoulder. The figure was still too frozen to make any sort of movements.

"Listen, the man you two are working for is scum. He hires missing-nins to do all of his biddings and gets rid of them once the job is completed. Do you really think that he will pay you guys?" Naruto said.

"H-How do you even know who hired us?" The figure said, regaining her composure.

"Simple, who else would go after an old man who's building a bridge? The only person that sees him as a threat is Gatou." Naruto said. "Look, I do not see you as an enemy nor do I want to, but if you do not leave the old man alone, I cannot guarantee your safety."

The figure stood still, contemplating on what to do. "I will not abandon Zabuza-sama. He's the only one who ever cared for me. If I have to fight you in order for me to stay with him, then so be it!"

"What do you think of Gatou? Do you like working for him?"

The figure sneered at the thought, though her facial expressions where hidden behind a mask. "Honestly, I despise that man, but we cannot afford to be picky with our clients anymore." she said.

"What if I make you an offer, will you think about it?"

She looked at him questionably. "What type of offer?"

"What if I tell you I can get you and your partner citizenship in the Hidden Village of Konoha? You wouldn't have to keep dodging missing-nins all the time, plus, both of you will be able to work as shinobies there and wouldn't have to worry about money anymore."

"What's in it for you?" She asked.

"Like I said, I do not see you as my enemy. If you decide to join us, Konoha will get two powerful allies." 'and we need all the help we can get.' Naruto added in thought.

"I cannot make this decision alone. I will have to consult Zabuza-sama." The figure said.

"That's fine, so can we call this a truce?" Naruto said, extending his arm in a handshake.

The figure grasped the hand and shook it. "Truce."

"We will meet a week from now at the bridge, that should give you guys plenty of time to think about it." Naruto said. The figure nodded her head for confirmation.

"By the way, I'm Uzumaki Naruto." he said.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Haku." the figure said.

"Well Haku, what do you say we put a stop to our sensei's fighting?" Naruto asked.

"Hai, we should before they cause us to break our truce." Haku said.

They both used Shunshin no Jutsu to arrive at the battlefield as quickly as possible.

Kakashi and Zabuza where currently giving it their all at the lake. Zabuza was currently forming a long series of hand seals for his Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu while Kakashi copied his every move.

As if from out of no where, both Naruto and Haku arrived in front of their respected sensei.

Zabuza looked livid. "Haku! What's the meaning of this? I told you to stay hidden and keep an eye on the battle!" He yelled at her.

"Gomennasai Zabuza-sama, But Naruto-kun and I made a truce. We have to go for now." She said.

"The blond with the whiskers? When did I tell you to engage him?" Zabuza said.

"Actually, Zabuza-sama, he's the one who engaged me. I'll tell you more later." Haku said.

"You better have a good reason for doing this Haku." Zabuza said. He looked toward Kakashi and said, "Sorry for cutting this fight short Hatake, but if all goes well, I'll get to finish this fight later." Both Haku and Zabuza disappeared using Shunshin no Jutsu.

Kakashi looked at the spot where Zabuza was for a few seconds. Once he could feel that their presence where gone, he let out a relieved sigh. He looked at Naruto, who was smiling at him like an idiot.

"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei? Tired?" He asked while his smile widened.

"Shut up Naruto." He said. "What the hell was all that about?"

"Well," Naruto began, " I offered them a chance to become Konoha shinobi, but it's all up to mister no-brows. I told them to meet us at the bridge in a week from now, we should know their decision by then."

"I see." Kakashi said. He turned his head and looked at Tazuna and his other team members.

Tazuna let out an awkward laugh, effectively cutting the tension that was built up during the battle. "Ahahaha! That was great! I know I doubted you guys at first, but now I can see that you are well prepared for anything." he said.

Sasuke and Sakura walked towards Naruto and eyed him.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked while wiping his whole face with his hand.

"What the hell was that back there! When did you get so much Chakra!?" Sakura yelled.

"I always had that much chakra. That's why I had trouble creating Regular Bunshins. I was born with a chakra irregularity in which builds up my chakra reserves." Naruto said.

'He didn't seem to have a problem creating a regular bunshin during the fight. What are you not telling us Naruto?' Sakura thought.

"We should get going. It's getting late and I don't want to run into any more missing-nins." Stated Kakashi.

"Yes, we should. Follow me, I'll lead you to my house so you can rest." Tazuna said.

After many hours of walking through a poverty-stricken country, team seven finally arrived at Tazuna's house. The house itself was something completely out of the ordinary for Sasuke and Sakura. It was a nice two story cabin built on top of the water. As soon as they walked in, Tazuna greeted his Family.

"Tsunami, Inari, I'm home!" He screamed into the seemingly empty house. Footsteps could be heard coming from the stairs and a young, black haired woman appeared with a smile on her face. "Father! I'm so glad you made it safe!" she said while hugging Tazuna.

"Ha-ha! Of course I made it safe! Konoha gave me a super ninja team to take care of me, and boy are they strong!"

"Really?" she said while looking at Team seven. "Thank you for making sure my father came home safe."

Kakashi's eye closed in what can only be identified as a smile. "No problem Tsunami-san, my team and I where only doing what we got paid to do."

Naruto's stomach grumbled loudly. "Um, sorry about that!" he said sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. "It's been a while since I had something inside my stomach."

"But of course, you all must be hungry! Forgive me for my rudeness." Tsunami said while bowing apologetically. "Come! Make yourselves at home! I'll prepare you something to eat."

She excused herself to the kitchen while Tazuna looked around the house. "Umm, Tsunami? Where's my amazing grandson, Inari?" he asked.

"Oh, he's asleep right now." she replied yelling from the kitchen. "Poor kid, he's been having a lot on his mind. He can't seem to find it in his heart to have much fun anymore." Tsunami said as she gloomily started preparing dinner.

"So what's the game plan?" asked Naruto.

"Well," Kakashi started, "I was hoping we could get some training done while we wait for Zabuza's answer. He's not the only one who is after Tazuna after all. As long as Gatou is here and the bridge is incomplete, his life will be in danger."

"Well, you are welcome to stay here as long as you want. It's not much, but It's the least I can do for all the help you have offered, despite the situation." Tazuna said.

"Thank you for your Hospitality." Said Kakashi.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, how come you have a Sharingan eye?" Sakura asked out of the blue. "From what I heard from Sasuke on the way over here, only gifted members from the Uchiha clan can awaken them."

Sasuke, who was tuning out all of the conversation, immediately perked up upon hearing Sakura's question. "Yes, it is true that only gifted members from the Uchiha clan are the ones who can obtained the Sharingan naturally, but I did not get mine through genetics."

Sasuke and Sakura where waiting for him to continue. After seeing that he wasn't going to do so on his own free will, Sasuke tried to draw out the lingering response. "Well, how did you get it then?" he asked.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but It's a bit too personal to tell you that story. Perhaps I can tell you some time in my life, but right now, it just opens up old wounds." he said with a gloomy voice.

"humph. Fine." Sasuke said as he turned his head.

"Alright everyone, get some sleep. Tomorrow we will wake up early in the morning to start our training." Kakashi said.

Everyone started to leave towards their designated sleeping area, that is until Kakashi spoke again.

"Naruto, can I talk to you for a second?" he said.

"Sure." Naruto said as he followed Kakashi outside the house. He had a feeling that this was not going to be fun.

"Naruto, Where did you learn the Shunshin no Jutsu? That's a technique that is only given to those who become Chunin in rank, so how did you get your hands on it.?" Kakashi asked.

"Why do you want to know sensei? Are you surprised that I have the control to perform the technique? Or is it because I managed to hide this knowledge so well?" Naruto asked.

"A little bit of both actually. It's not THAT hard to do, but any normal Genin shouldn't be able to do it."

"Well, like I told Kurenai-sensei the other day, I'm no ordinary Genin." Naruto said.

"That's for sure. Any other surprises I could expect?" Kakashi said. Naruto only smiled broadly.

"Lets just say, I'm not the only one that's going to surprise you Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled at that. "Well ok, let's go get some sleep. We are going to be pretty busy tomorrow morning."

Naruto nodded and headed to bed. Before he actually fell asleep though, he decided to check up on his favorite pale eyed girl.

"_Oi, Hinata-chan!__ Are you awake?" _Naruto asked.

No response. He tried again. _"Hinata-chan?"_ he asked a little more forceful than before.

"…_.Na__..ru__to__kun__..?" _she managed to respond in a dreamy voice. Naruto laughed a little at that.

"_Sorry for waking you up Hinata-__chan .__ I just wanted to see what you where doing." _Naruto said.

"…_.Na__..ru__to__kun__,…did…you…like…it?" _she asked.

Naruto was confused. 'like what?' he thought to himself. 'Is she…she can't be dreaming and using the tracking seal at the same time, could she?'

Naruto decided to ask a few more questions to see if she was really dreaming.

"_Hinata-chan, why wouldn't I like it?" _he asked.

"_It…was…my…first…time." _Hinata said.

Naruto was now blushing madly. 'What the hell is she dreaming about?!' he asked himself.

"_Um…yes?" _Naruto said, not really sure what he was agreeing to like.

Although Hinata was asleep, she let out a content sigh. _"I'm…glad…you…liked…it. I…enjoyed…cooking…for…you."_ she said.

Naruto blinked and let out a relieved sigh. 'I thought she was dreaming about…never mind. Stupid Ero-sennin's teachings are still affecting me even in the past.'

"_We should eat together again sometime. I got to go now Hinata-chan, bye!" _Naruto said a little fast, still trying to fight down his blush.

"…_Itte irasshai__…(__Have a safe trip)" _was Hinata's reply.

Naruto sweat dropped. 'Ok, that was weird.' he thought. 'That's the last time I'll get a hold of her at night. It's going to be hard to sleep now. Damn you to hell Ero-sennin!"

_Meanwhile, in team Zabuza's hideout…_

"Ok, mind telling me why we left without getting our target? Gatou isn't going to pay us when he finds out, you know." Zabuza said.

"I understand Zabuza-sama, but I received an offer and wanted your opinion on what to do." Haku said.

Zabuza narrowed his eyes at her. "Go on. I'm listening."

"Well, while I was watching the match, Naruto-kun appeared a little to fast for me to react, and held a kunai at my throat. I assured him I was a hunter-nin, but somehow, he found out that I was your partner. He leaked out such a massive killer intent, I couldn't move at all. I seriously thought I was a goner." Haku said.

Zabuza clenched his fist in anger. He didn't like this kid one bit. "After reassuring me that he didn't want to fight," Haku continued, "he gave me an offer. He told me that we could get citizenships at Konoha and wouldn't have to worry about hunter-nins as much. Plus, we could do shinobi missions to get money. What do you think we should do Zabuza-sama?"

Zabuza stayed quiet, as if in deep in thought. Haku thought that she wasn't going to get an answer soon, until she heard Zabuza speak.

"We continue with our mission." Zabuza said simply.

"B-But Zabuza-sama, we wouldn't have to worry about running from hunter-nins anymore." Haku said.

"Haku, those shinobi don't give a shit about us. Do you really think they would accept missing-nins in their village? Even if they do, they would abandon a comrade for the sake of the mission, especially someone who recently became a shinobi of their country. They would not be looking out for us."

"I understand where your coming from Zabuza-sama, but do we really have to continue this mission? What if Gatou doesn't pay?"

"He will pay, our clients always have. If he doesn't want to, I'll just have to "persuade" him a little." said Zabuza as he smiled evilly thinking about what he could do to the man.

"When do we make our move, Zabuza-sama." Haku asked.

"The brat made a truce, did he not?"

Haku nodded.

"Then we will strike at the place we are suppose to meet. I'm sure they are preparing just in case we chose to refuse their offer." Zabuza said.

_The next morning…_

Team seven was currently waiting for their sensei at a small clearing near Tazuna's house. They had just arrived together about two minutes ago.

"So, how are you guys doing with the gravity right now?" Naruto asked.

"It's fine, I've gotten used to it." Sasuke said. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Good, because it's about that time to up the dosage. Make sure you increase it by one level." Naruto said.

Sasuke and Sakura did as they where told. They waited for Naruto to change his, but he never did.

"Naruto, aren't you going to increase yours?" Sakura asked.

"Oh no, not yet. I already increased it two days ago, so I got to get used to this setting first."

Sasuke eyed him for a while. "How much did you increase the gravity by?" he asked.

"Right now, I have it at five times normal gravity." he said with a smirk on his face.

"Five times!? How could you have it up that high already?" Sasuke asked in a pissed off type of mood.

"Well Sasuke, you could always increase the gravity by yourself, you don't have to wait for me to remind you. Just make sure your body is ready for the switch, or you will regret it."

"How can we make sure we are ready for it?" Sakura asked.

"Well, there's one simple test you can do. If you can run as fast as you could before you increased your weight, it's time to increase the gravity." Naruto answered.

"Ohayo team!" Kakashi said as he appeared using Shunshin no Jutsu.

"Ohayo Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said with a smile.

Kakashi looked at her critically. "What, your not going to yell at me anymore?" asked Kakashi.

"Nah, I'm not going to waste my breath on you anymore. I should know by now that your lazy ass is always going to be late."

Kakashi gave off an awkward laugh. "Gomen, I was on my way over here until I saw a wasp nest and had to take a detour."

"Sure Kakashi-sensei, whatever you say." Sakura said with indifference.

"Anyways, I was planning on helping out building up your chakra control. The better you control your chakra, the less you use, thus, making you more efficient when you are needed on a long lasting battle." Kakashi said.

"How are we going to increase our chakra control?" asked Sasuke

"Simple, by climbing trees." Kakashi said matter-of-factly

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, we already know how to do that. Naruto showed us how on the third day we became a team." Sakura said.

"He did? I never seen you guys do it when we where training." Kakashi said.

"That's because we also trained after you dismissed us." Sasuke said. "Who would of thought the dobe knew his stuff?"

"I see." said Kakashi. 'I guess this is what he meant about not being the only one to surprise me.' he thought.

"Well could you show me?" Kakashi asked. "Hai." The three said in unison as they picked out a tree and performed the required task.

"Good good, now tell me, do you guys know the water walking exercise yet?" Asked Kakashi. Sakura and Sasuke gave him a stupefied look, but Naruto nodded his head in the affirmative.

"Ok, follow me, team." Kakashi said as he started walking to a nearby lake. Of course, the team followed closely.

"Naruto, why don't you demonstrate how this exercise works?" said Kakashi.

"Sure." Naruto walked towards the lake, only to keep walking above the water as if the water was solid. Sakura and Sasuke looked at the scene amazed.

"This is the water walking exercise." Naruto began. "Basically, it's an advanced version of the tree climbing exercise. What you do is gather chakra at your feet, just as you would with tree climbing, but once you put weight on your foot, you have to push chakra down into the water constantly. This is a great exercise not only for chakra control, but also building up your chakra reserves. Come on over and try it."

Sasuke walked to the edge of the lake, and placed his foot on the water. He was doing pretty good, until he started walking into the deep end.

"You need to force out more chakra into the water. If you don't you start sinking." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded and followed his advice. Although he was at the top of the water, he still had trouble balancing himself.

Sakura, on the other hand, got this exercise pretty quickly. She walked too and fro without any problems, that is, until she was using up all of her chakra.

"Sakura, this exercise will tire you easily since your chakra reserves are low. Once you feel winded, rest for a few minutes and try again to build up your reserves faster." Naruto advised. Sakura nodded.

'Who would of thought Naruto be such a great teacher.' Kakashi thought. 'Looks like he has things under control, I should go and keep Tazuna company at the bridge.'

"Well Naruto, looks like you can take care of things here. I'll let you keep training these guys while I go protect Tazuna at the bridge. We will alternate until we all master the water walking exercise." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded. Kakashi used his Shunshin no Jutsu to take his leave.

"Ok guys, keep up the good work!" Naruto said as he joined his partners with the exercise.

One day later…

"Zabuza-sama, how are you wounds feeling today?" Haku asked. She grabbed some sort of home made ointment and applied it to Zabuza's cuts.

"Gees Haku, you worry too much, it's not like I need to be hospitalized. I wasn't that badly wounded."

"Never the less, you shouldn't push yourself too hard. You might damage your body more than help it." She said.

"Please, I know my limits. You should be training too you know. It's going to be a rough battle for you if you have to take all three of those brats." Zabuza said.

"I doubt all three will fight, they have to keep the old man guarded remember? If I'm lucky, I'll only have to fight one." 'And I really hope it's not Naruto-kun, he seems like a nice guy.' she thought.

Their conversation was cut off by a breaking door. Zabuza and Haku quickly got to their defensive stance. Two samurai men where standing in front of where the door used to be, followed by a short man with sunglasses and a business suit.

"Well Well, if it isn't Momochi Zabuza. Didn't I specify that I wanted the Bridge builder dead?" the main in the suit said.

"Gatou, don't bother me about this right now. I got it planned. The old man will die in a couple of days, you can count on that." Zabuza said.

"A couple of days? A COUPLE OF DAYS!?" Gatou yelled with disbelief. "I told you to take care of his ass two days ago, now your giving me this shit!? I should kill you right now!" Gatou said as he raised his staff to strike Zabuza. He never had the chance to swing because Haku interfered.

"W-What the hell are you doing? Let me go!" Gatou yelled. Haku had gotten a hold of his hand, and just to show how pissed off she was, she broke it. "AAHHH!" Gatou yelled.

The two samurais reached for their swords, but they never got the chance to pull them out since they had a massive sword placed near their throat.

"I wouldn't move if I where you." Zabuza said as he pressed his sword closer to their necks, effectively drawing out a trickle of blood.

Haku let go of Gatou's hand and glared at him. "If you ever try to hurt Zabuza-sama again, I WILL KILL YOU!" she said.

Gatou nearly pissed his pants at the threat. "F-F-Five days!" Gatou yelled, getting his composure back now that he was behind his lackeys. "You got five days to kill the old fart, If you don't, consider your contract void."

Gatou and his men left swiftly after a barrage of senbon where thrown at them.

"I fucking hate that bastard!" Haku seethed.

"Calm yourself Kid." Zabuza said. "Once we get our money, you won't have to worry about him."

"I hope your right, Zabuza-sama." Haku said.

* * *

Two days later, fourth day of the week…

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke where sparring with each other in a three way match above the lake. They have been going at it for the past hour, which is pretty good considering Sakura's low chakra reserves.

"Ok ok, stop!" Naruto yelled. Both of them stopped their advances and lowered their guard. "Great job guys, both of you passed the hour mark. I can officially say you mastered the water walking exercise!"

"YATTA!" Sakura yelled as she jumped up on top of Sasuke.

Sasuke started sinking until he adjusted his chakra flow for the extra 230lbs that was on top of him. "Get off Sakura! Your heavier than you look!" he said.

Sakura jumped off and gave a small "humph!" to show how pissed she was for that comment.

"Alright alright, calm down!" Naruto said, trying to stop a laugh from coming out of his mouth.

"Sakura, I want you to keep on practicing your Doton: Doryuheki Jutsu. You should be able to use it more effectively now that you have more Chakra and your control is better. Get a feel for how you can use it." Naruto commanded.

"Hai, I'll do my best "Naruto-sensei"" She mocked.

"Just do it already, I need to talk to Sasuke. If you get tired of that you could always read those medical jutsus you picked up at the library." he said.

"Yeah yeah, you 2 have fun." Sakura said waving them off.

Naruto took Sasuke to another part of the clearing, not to far from Sakura's view. "What do you want dobe? This better be good." Sasuke said.

"Oh it is." Naruto said. "How would you like it if I helped you awaken your Sharingan?"

Sasuke looked up at Naruto in Shock. "You can do that?" He asked hopefully. In truth, Sasuke had no idea how to awaken the Sharingan and he would be willing to try anything to achieve it.

"Well, not exactly, but I do have a theory." Naruto said. "In order for The Sharingan to awaken, you have to be in a near death state. Your mind should register this and your natural defenses should awaken it to save your sorry ass."

"So what are you saying Naruto?" Sasuke eyed him questionably.

"I'm saying," Naruto said as he got in his fighting stance, "Get ready to defend yourself as if your life is on the line."

Naruto charged at Sasuke.

'Oh crap!' Sasuke thought.

* * *

_Later on that day…_

"Where's Naruto and Sasuke, weren't they with you?" Tsunami asked Sakura as she served her dinner.

"Yeah, but you know boys, they tend to work harder to prove just how strong they are." Sakura said.

Inari, who was at the dining table, stayed quiet.

Naruto Walked in Hauling Sasuke with one hand over his shoulder. "Whew! What a day!" Naruto said. Sasuke appeared too tired to make any comment, although Naruto didn't look so hot himself.

Naruto set Sasuke on his seat gently before he taking his own. "Don't worry Sasuke, we'll try again tomorrow. You almost had it, I saw it."

"Almost had what?" Kakashi said. Sasuke looked up at him and glared.

"Don't worry about it "sensei." You'll get to see it very soon." Sasuke said as he got up and walked to his designated room. He was still pissed off that Kakashi had the Sharingan and made no effort to help him awaken his own.

Kakashi looked confused, "What did I do?" as soon as he finished his sentence, Sasuke appeared in the room again, grumbling incoherent things as he sat back down on the table.

"What the hell was that, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto said as he chuckled at his antics.

"…I'm still hungry." he replied and said nothing else.

While they where eating, Tsunami praised them for how hard they where working, and that caused Inari to get up from the table and go straight to his room without a word.

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked.

"You have to excuse him." Tsunami said. "He's been acting like that ever since my husband was killed."

"His father was a great man." Tazuna continued, completely interrupting Tsunami and Sakura's conversation without remorse.

"He wasn't Inari's father by blood, but they where so close, it really didn't matter. One day, there was a massive flood in the city. We needed to close a gate to save the residents that where going to be wiped out by the flood. Nobody volunteered to do it because the flood was so strong, surely anybody that went in would die. But Kaiza, Inari's father, volunteered and was able to close it. He became the village hero."

Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, even Naruto smiled at the story. Tazuna continued. "But not long after that, Kaiza was put to death publicly by Gatou."

There was a sharp gasp. "That's horrible! Why would he do something like that!" Sakura exclaimed.

Tazuna was wiping his unshed tears that he was holding back. "Why else? He did it so nobody would try to go against him. After that day, Inari has never been the same. Is as if he has given up all hope."

Naruto got up from his seat and headed towards the door. "Naruto, where are you going." Sakura asked.

"I need some time to think." He said as he walked outside.

"I hope he's ok." Tsunami said.

"He'll be alright." Kakashi said. "Just give him some time, he'll be his old self in the morning."

* * *

_The next day…_

Sasuke was currently giving it his all against twenty of Naruto's Kage Bunshins. He has been dodging, dispelling, and attacking them for over 3 hours now. To say Sasuke was pissed was an understatement. He should have awakened the Sharingan by now.

"Naruto, you need to come at me with the intent to kill!" Sasuke said as he dispelled one of his clones with a roundhouse kick.

"What do you think I have been trying to do, Sasuke-teme!?" Naruto said while he created twenty more bunshins."

'I've had enough of this shit!' Sasuke thought. He did a series of hand seals. After he gathered chakra at his lungs, he yelled out in his mind, 'Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!' He aimed the fireball at all of Naruto's Bunshins, successfully dispelling them.

"Naruto, hit me with a strong jutsu, something you think I might not survive. If you don't, all of this time will go to waste!" Sasuke yelled.

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a serious expression. He did a series of hand seals and yelled in his mind 'Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!' A series of fireballs come from his mouth, all of them aimed at Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged them easily and got passed Naruto's guard, sending him sailing a couple of feet back. "I'm serious Naruto! I know you have a stronger technique! Come at me with an intent to kill!" he yelled.

Naruto got up and wiped the blood from his mouth. He locked eyes with Sasuke and he could see the pleading look in his eye. 'This is it.' Naruto thought. 'It's now or never.' Naruto brought his right arm to the side, gathering chakra as he concentrated. As he did this, A small sphere started to appear on his palm. It was no bigger than the size of a baseball, but it looked and felt extremely powerful.

'He's finally serious.' Sasuke thought as he inwardly smirked. He did a series of hand seals and grabbed his left wrist with his right hand, forcing it down. A loud chirping noise could be heard from all of the energy Sasuke was gathering up on his left hand.

Both Naruto and Sasuke started running towards each other and slammed their technique at one another's, calling it's name as they did so.

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

The collision was intense! Both where struggling to gain the upper hand, pushing their palms back and forth in the power struggle.

'I can't fail, I WON"T FAIL! I need to do this in order to kill that man!' Sasuke thought. He had brief flashbacks of his brother killing his family over and over again.

While Sasuke was doing this, Naruto could see that Sasuke's eyes where switching from Sharingan to normal Onyx. He was almost there! He just needed a little extra push. Naruto poured a little more chakra on his technique to gain the upper hand.

'No I won't let you do this, I can't let you' "I WON"T LET YOU!!" Sasuke screamed as he finally activated his Sharingan eyes. He pushed Naruto's Rasengan back and effectively dispelled it, in doing so dispelling his own. Sasuke was panting hard.

Naruto fell on the floor on his knee and turned around to look at Sasuke, giving him a thumbs up. "Congratulations, you have awakened your Sharingan.." Naruto said as he passed out from exhaustion.

Sasuke looked at his trembling hands, then he settled his eyesight at Naruto's prone form. A small smile graced his lips. "You really gave it you all…didn't you…Naruto?" He said as he fell on his knee. He had one final thought before he fell into a state of unconsciousness. 'Arigato.'

* * *

A few hours after their epic training, Sasuke and Naruto arrived at Tazuna's house limping. Sakura turned her head at the door and saw the condition of her teammates and gasped.

"Oh Kami-sama, What on earth did you guys do to each other!" She yelled worriedly.

Sasuke chuckled to himself. He was currently looking at the floor, holding on to Naruto's shoulder for support.

"What the hell is so funny Sasuke-kun!? Both of you look like you where caught in a…" she didn't get to finish her sentence before she gasped again.

"S-Sasuke-kun…are…Those?" She asked him with wide eyes.

Sasuke gave her a cocky smile. "Hai, these are the Sharingan." he said. Sakura dropped her current worries in order to congratulate her teammate.

"YATTA! You did it Sasuke-kun!" She said as she hugged him fiercely. Sasuke in turn hissed in pain and slowly pushed her away.

"Oh kami, I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, I forgot that you where injured!" she apologized sincerely.

"It's ok, just…don't touch me right now." Sasuke said.

Sakura brightened up at hearing the hidden message of being able to touch him later. "Sure thing Sasuke-kun! You and Naruto should let me take a look at you. Follow me." She said.

After Healing up Naruto and Sasuke, Team seven and company where currently at the dining table enjoying their meal. Tazuna was once again praising the kids for all of their hard work.

Inari was having flashbacks from when his father would also get praised, only to die a terrible death. He couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Why do you guys try so hard?! No matter how hard you train, you're still be no match for Gatou's men! No matter what glorious claims you make, when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!" he screamed.

Everyone looked at Inari, and Sakura tried to calm him down. "Inari, listen, we…" But she got rudely interrupted.

"No! you listen! You know nothing about this country yet you're being nosy about it!"

"Inari, you need to calm down, your overreacting." Naruto said trying to hold on to his patience.

"What the hell do you know about me!" He yelled back. "I'm different from you, all of you are always happy and cheerful! You have no idea how hard life can be!"

That stuck a cord on both Sasuke and Naruto, but Naruto acted first. "So what, your going to solve all your problems by crying like this is your own little soup opera?! Nothing is ever going to get solved if all you do is complain about how hard your life is. Your not the only person with problems in this world kid, so if you don't know who you are talking to, mind your fucking mouth!"

"Naruto! That's enough!" Sakura yelled at him. Naruto got up and slammed the door as he walked out of the house.

"Oh dear, I hope he doesn't get into any trouble." Tsunami said.

Sakura was about to go after him, until Sasuke grabbed her arm and shook his head. She sighed and sat back down on the table. While all this was going on, Inari had stood up from the table and ran to his room.

The morning in Wave Country was just the same as any other morning, nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Of course, this meant that there was still famine, many homeless people, and deserted streets in the market.

Out in a clearing, far from civilization, there was a young woman gathering medical herbs in her basket. She has been doing this for the past hour or so. While she was looking for a new spot to pick out her herbs, she noticed a young boy laying down on the clearing.

She thought that surely nobody lived anywhere near here, so why was there a young boy lying down in the middle of nowhere? Curiosity got the best of her and walked towards the boy. Upon getting closer, she was surprised to notice that it was the same boy who offered her a chance for a different life.

She knelt down before him and noticed the whisker like birth marks she failed to see the last time she met him. 'So these are the marks Zabuza was talking about. I'm surprised I didn't notice them before.' she thought as she traced her fingers along the marks.

Naruto stirred a little at the touch and fell right back to sleep, murmuring gibberish as he did so. Haku smiled fondly at the boy and shook him lightly. "Hey, wake up. You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." she said.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes to see a young woman smiling down at him. He couldn't help but to smile right back. "Ohayo." Naruto said.

"Ohayo. What where you doing out here all by yourself? It's pretty dangerous if your not careful." Haku said.

"Don't worry about that. I'm a ninja, nobody could sneak up on me."

"Oh really? You didn't react defensively when I got near you. "

"That's because I didn't feel any malicious intent coming from your aura. If you where out to get me, I would have been up the moment you tried anything." Naruto said.

Haku couldn't help but smile at this. "I'm sure that you would, but you still didn't answer my question. What where you doing out here by yourself?"

Naruto thought back for a second, trying to figure this out himself. "Well, I was mainly training to let out some steam, then I laid down right her to rest for a bit. I guess the ground was too comfortable for me because I didn't plan to fall asleep here." He said while he scratch the back of his head and gave her a cheesy smile.

Haku giggled at his antics. "You should be more careful, you could catch a cold sleeping outside with this weather." she said

"Nah, I've never gotten sick in my life. I don't know why, but I have an amazing immune system, so the only time I get sick is if somebody is deliberately trying to get me ill." Naruto said. "What about you?" he continued, "What's a beautiful girl like yourself doing out here in the woods?" Naruto said.

Haku blushed a bit, but answered his question non the less. "I'm gathering special herbs so that I could make medicine. It's a lot cheaper to make it yourself, plus it works better most of the time." she said as she patted her basket. "You said you where a ninja right?" She asked. Naruto nodded his head.

"What's it like to be a ninja?"

"Well," Naruto said as he thought, "It's not always fun and games. There are times when I have to make some critical decisions in which could cost the life of my teammates or mine." he said with a solemn look.

"Even though I look young, I've been through a lot in my life. I was born in a village where I was shunned for something that I have no control over." Haku looked up at Naruto with a surprised look on her face after hearing this. Naruto though, seemingly didn't noticed or chose to ignore it, because he continued with his story.

"Both of my parents died after I was born due to the rampage of the nine tailed demon lord Kyuubi, so I had nobody to turn to. I was always alone. As I was growing up, random people who I didn't know used to chase me around with the intent to harm me, just for being me. Everybody hated my guts and I didn't even know why until recently. The only person who actually cared for my well being was the leader of the village, the Hokage. He gave me food, clothes, a place to live, and enough money to get by. Although he was generous, there was only so much that he could do."

"Do you consider him your precious person?" Haku asked.

"Well yeah, but he's not the only one I care for. Slowly, I started finding people who would accept me for who I was, and I couldn't be any happier. Once I found out people could change, I made a decision in my life. When my village sees it fit, I'm going to become the Hokage, that way, I can make sure nobody will have to go through the same crap I had to ever again."

"That's good. I'm glad you found people who would accept you for who you are. I know how hard life can be without anybody who cares for you." Haku said.

"How so?"

Haku looked at Naruto and could see that he was genuinely interested. "When I was young, I used to have a Mother and Father. We used to live in a small snowy village in the Country of the Mist. I was happy, my parents where nice people." she said. "But because of the way my mother and I where born, my father decided to kill us both when he found out." Naruto looked at her with sad eyes.

Haku's eyes became misty as she continued her story. "My father killed my mother right in front of me. I was so scared. I wanted to help her so badly, but I couldn't do anything out of fear." she said as she shed a tear. "Right after she died, my father came after me, but I managed to escape by killing him. Because of this, I was left alone for a long time. Nobody wanted me because they feared what I am. That is, until I found someone who was willing to take care of me. He became my precious person."

Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. Haku looked up to see him with a smile. "He's not the only one who is willing to take care of you Haku." Her eyes widened when she heard this. 'He knew! All this time he knew who I was!' "H-How did you know?" She asked.

"I know your surprised that I knew who you are, but you don't have to worry about me. I will never harm you, I promise you that." Haku felt herself getting pulled into a hug. Her eyes widened even more. She wasn't expecting this at all.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she said as she felt a tear hit her shoulder.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you Haku, I promise you that I will never let you get hurt again." Naruto said.

Haku was very surprised he would care so much about someone he just met, but she figured that with similar past, he would feel a little guilty he couldn't do anything to help. She felt herself awkwardly return the hug.

She thought that he was talking about saving her from the loneliness, but Naruto was reminiscing about his past. Seeing Haku like this struck a cord. He was reminded what his main plans are and he will do anything to save those who died an early death.

She was going to regret this, but she had to tell him, screw the consequences! "Naruto-kun, you can't keep that promise. We are enemies now. Zabuza-sama didn't accept the offer and is planning on attacking your team tomorrow at the bridge."

"I had a feeling he wouldn't, but I had to try." Naruto said as he pulled himself out of the hug. "That doesn't change anything. I still don't see you guys as the enemies. If it weren't for Gatou, you wouldn't be after us at all." He said

"Your still going to have to fight me." Haku said.

"I know, but I won't do anything to harm you or Zabuza-san. I'll find a way to change his mind." Naruto said.

"I hope you find a way." Haku said as she stood up. "I wouldn't want to fight you if I had the choice."

"Don't worry, I'll find a way, I promise." he said as he smiled at her.

She gave him one more smile before she started to walk away. Halfway out of the clearing, she passed through Sasuke, who looked like he hadn't slept well. As she passed through him, she could feel him looking at her for a few seconds before he turned around and kept walking.

A little bit further ahead, he found Naruto pacing back and forth thinking about something. As soon as he got close enough, Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Who was that girl?"

"Oh, that was Haku."

"Haku? I didn't know you knew anybody from Wave Country." Sasuke said.

Naruto gave him a confused look for a second, until he realized that Sasuke didn't know who Haku was yet.

Naruto laughed a little as he waved the topic off. "Don't worry about it, it's not important right now."

Sasuke eyed him for a while. "…Right. Anyways, everybody was worried about you last night. You just left without saying a word. They told me to come looking for you."

Naruto looked at him for a few seconds. "How long have you been looking for me?" he asked.

"That doesn't matter, all that matters is that I found you and I can finally take you back and get some sleep." Sasuke said.

Sasuke had been looking for him since last night non-stop, but he wasn't going to tell him that. "Alright Sasuke-teme, lead the way."

* * *

_Later on that day…_

Zabuza was in his room cleaning his sword while Haku was checking her inventory. "Tomorrow's the day." Zabuza said.

Haku remained quiet. She had an uneasy feeling about what was going to happen tomorrow. "Yeah." was what she said.

"Haku, I want you to fight for me. Don't hold back. These guys are a lot stronger than they look, and if you hold anything back, then they will not hesitate to kill you."

Haku got a flashback of the conversation she had with Naruto earlier that day.

"_I'm sorry I couldn't save you Haku, I promise you that I will never let you get hurt again."_

She gritted her teeth while she tried to shake the memory away. "Hai Zabuza-sama, I will do as you wish."

Zabuza placed a hand on top of her head and ruffled it. "Good kid."

* * *

_That night…_

Sasuke came in Tazuna's house dragging in Naruto by his legs. Kakashi looked up and gave him a critical eye.

"Yo! Where have you two been? I was beginning to get worried that my whole team might end up missing."

Sasuke gave him a "humph." before he continued. "I found this baka pacing in a clearing far from here. After I found him, we decided to have a little sparing match to test out my new…technique." Sasuke said.

"Anyways, we got a little carried away and lasted the whole day sparring. He's just passed out from all the exercise, but he should be fine by tomorrow." he said.

"Why are you dragging him by his feet?" Kakashi asked.

"I didn't want to be seen carrying him." Sasuke said. It wasn't a complete lie, although it wasn't really the reason why he didn't carry him. He was too drained to be able to pick him up with Naruto's current gravity seal activated, but he should now have enough to at least carry him to his sleeping area, so he did.

"Will he be alright?" Tsunami asked

"Yes, he just needs some rest. I hope he gets enough because it could get rough tomorrow." Sasuke said.

* * *

_The next morning…_

Morning came much to early for both Sasuke and Sakura. They were fine with waking up early before, but since the first day they have been here, they where given a break and started waking up closer to the afternoon.

Sakura walked into the kitchen and saw Kakashi's smile as he greeted her. "Ohayo Sakura! Nice of you to join us." He was standing with a fully awake Tazuna and a sleepy Sasuke next to him.

'Damn him! The one time he shows up early, I get to be the one that's late!' "Gomen Kakashi-sensei. I was on my way here but I lost my sandal along the way and had to look for it." Sakura said, getting an excuse from one of Kakashi's old ones.

Kakashi chuckled a bit and waved her off. "Quite understandable, If you don't mind, we should start heading towards the bridge."

Sakura looked around for Naruto, but couldn't find him. "Kakashi-sensei, aren't we missing Naruto?"

"Well, he's still recovering from yesterday's match with Sasuke, so he will have to catch up with us when he wakes up." He said.

"Demo, Wasn't he the one who called the truce? Wouldn't it be rude if he doesn't show up?" Sakura asked.

"We'll just have to fend for ourselves. I would of rather waited, but we are dealing with missing-nins. I wouldn't want to piss them off too much." Kakashi said.

"A-Alright, if you are sure, then lets go." Sakura said.

Once they where at the bridge, they where greeted by Zabuza and Haku, who where patiently waiting for them.

"Good for you to show up, Hatake, but where's the brat with the whiskers?"

Haku was glad that he wasn't there right now, because she didn't want to fight him at all, but she was also worried that he might of said all those things just to ambush them right now.

"Don't worry about him, he'll be here soon." Kakashi said.

Tazuna looked around. "Where are all my workers?" He asked.

"As soon as we appeared, they ran off like the cowards they are. It was a pity we are still holding on to the truce, otherwise I would have had some fun with them." Zabuza said evilly. Tazuna jumped back from the comment.

"So, what is your answer Momochi Zabuza?"

"I'm sorry, but after what I went through with my country's shinobi, I just don't trust you." He said as he withdrew his sword.

Team seven guarded Tazuna on instinct. "So I'm guessing your still working for Gatou." Kakashi said.

"My my, you are quite the intelligent one Hatake, I can see that nothing passes through you." Zabuza said sarcastically.

Zabuza started generating chakra and yelled out, "Kirigakure no Jutsu!" A thick mist covered the area. After a few seconds, he yelled out, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" five clones appeared right before team seven.

Zabuza leaked some killer intent just like before, and noticed that Sasuke was shaking. "What's the matter boy? Still trembling from fright?"

Sasuke smirked and attacked all five clones with his single kunai. 'What?' Zabuza thought. "I was trembling from excitement." Sasuke said.

Zabuza chuckled a little. "Haku! Take care of this one, I got Hatake. We could get the Old man and the girl later." He yelled.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Haku?! Your that girl that I saw at the clearing yesterday!"

"Indeed I am. Sorry about what I'm about to do. I truly do not wish to hurt you, but I must." She said as she charged at him with a senbon.

Sasuke charged right back and clashed his Kunai against her senbon. They kept this up for a while, but it seemed that Haku was a little faster than Sasuke, because he got hit a couple of times.

"If this keeps up, your student will die Hatake." Zabuza said with a smirk on his face.

'Shit, If I interfere now, Zabuza will have a clean shot at Tazuna. I doubt Sakura can match his speed and power.'

'I hate to say this, but that brow-less freak is right.' Sasuke thought. 'I didn't know I would have to do this so soon.' Sasuke bit his thumb and wrote the number two in his left hand. Haku was confused by this action, until she saw the blood being absorbed by some type of seal.

Sasuke smirked. "This should be enough to beat you!" Sasuke charged at Haku with twice the speed he had as before. Her eyes widened with surprise behind her mask.

"What the hell?!" Zabuza yelled. "What did he do Hatake?!"

Kakashi was just as confused as he was. Whatever he did, it made his twice as fast as before. "I seriously don't know, but I'm glad that he did that." He said as he smirked. "I don't have to intervene anymore."

Haku's mask was slashed in two with Sasuke's kunai, then she went sailing a couple of feet back by a kick to her stomach. She slowly stood up and she appeared to have a long scratch from the top of her right eye to her lower left chin.

"Haku! Stop fooling around! Use it now!" Zabuza screamed.

"Hai Zabuza-sama." she said.

Haku started forming hand seals while water started rising between Sasuke and herself. After forming the last seal, she yelled out, "Makyo Hyo Sho." than about twenty-one of what appeared to be ice mirrors appeared in a dome like structure in between them. As soon as the jutsu was completed, Haku entered one of the mirrors and she appeared on each and every one of the other mirrors.

"What's this?" Sasuke asked. As soon as he finished his sentence, he felt a barrage of senbon pierce and cut his body. He yelled out an agonizing scream.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed.

Kakashi rushed toward his location, but was stopped by Zabuza. "Your fight is with me!" he said as he swung his sword at him.

Kakashi managed to dodge it, but it gave enough time for Zabuza to thicken the mist until he was practically blind by it.

"What's this?" Kakashi asked. "This mist is too thick Zabuza, even for you. I can understand why you would try to blind my Sharingan, but this will also give you a disadvantage."

Zabuza laughed, "You think you know everything Hatake, just wait until you screw up."

"Kakashi was lifting up his headband, but he felt something move toward his eye. He placed his other hand in front of it. His hand was impaled by one of Zabuza's kunai.

Kakashi's visible eye widened. 'His eyes are closed!'

"Being the master of silent killing has is advantages. I can find anybody's location by more than just my vision." Zabuza said as he disappeared into the mist.

Kakashi raised his Headband to reveal his Sharingan eye. "This mist might be thick, but I'll find a way to get you."

'He's not Above me, not below me, and not around me. Come on Kakashi think! Where would you be if you where him.' His eye widened with realization. "Tazuna!"

"Too late!"

Zabuza swung his sword and was pleased to realize it drew blood, but pissed it wasn't from his intended target.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed.

* * *

_Outside Tazuna's house…_

Two samurai's where currently taking Tsunami hostage, Inari was left inside of the house crying. He came out of the door and screamed. "Get away from my mom!"

He ran towards the samurai crying and trying to defend his mother. The samurai's laughed at the pathetic display of courage and sliced the boy into pieces…only to find that the boy was replaced by a log.

"Hey Inari, are you ok?"

Inari looked up at Naruto and was happy that he finally woke up. If he would of shown up a second later, he would have been dead.

"Naruto! Behind you!"

Naruto quickly pulled out a kunai and blocked both of their blades with it. "You know, I would of let you guys leave here peacefully, but it seems that you two enjoy killing just as much as Gatou, and for that, I will never forgive you!" Naruto said as he formed a rasengan on his right hand and set if off in front of them, Shredding them as they flew a good 20 or 30 feet away.

"W-Wow!" Inari exclaimed.

"You all right kid? I'm sorry about the day before, but you sure did show a lot a courage in front of those men. Not everybody would be willing to sacrifice themselves to save someone." Naruto said as he ruffled his hair.

Naruto looked at the swords that they dropped. Amazingly, they didn't receive any damage and looked like they where in reasonable condition. 'I could use a sword later on. I might as well take these since they won't be able to move for a good while.'

Naruto took out an empty scroll and wrote down two kanji's of the word Sword and sealed the swords on the scroll.

"Inari, I want you to take care of your mom while I go help my team. I'm counting on you to keep her safe."

Inari nodded and watched Naruto run towards the bridge.

* * *

_At the Bridge…_

Sasuke was having a lot of trouble dodging Haku's attacks. He had just enough time to set the gravity seal to the normal gravity and had his Sharingan on, but it still wasn't enough to match Haku's Instantaneous movement.

'What's up with this kid? He shouldn't be able to dodge my attacks at all. The fact that he's getting hit with only 10 of what I threw is ridiculous.' Haku thought.

Sasuke was panting hard. 'Damn, this bitch won't give me enough time to form hand seals. I was only fortunate that she scratched the top of my left hand, allowing me to deactivate the gravity seal. If this keeps up, I'm done for.'

"What's the matter Kakashi? You've been getting sloppier by the minute." Zabuza teased.

'Damn it. I didn't want to resort to this, but If I don't get serious, Zabuza will succeed with his mission.' Kakashi thought.

Kakashi took out a scroll from his Jounin vest and smeared blood on it while he opened it. "Zabuza, I don't have time for your games, this ends now!" He closed the scroll and started doing hand seals. He yelled out in his mind, 'Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!'

Zabuza felt that something was amiss, but he couldn't pint point it until it was too late. A pack of ninja dogs jumped up from the ground and they all bit him in several places, effectively holding him in place.

"That's what happens when you keep your eyes close during a fight Momochi." Kakashi said. "I'm sorry, but you will have to die now."

"Humph, and you wanted me to join your group." Zabuza said

Kakashi said nothing as he powered up for the Chidori. Haku got distracted by the sight of Zabuza trapped in a deadly situation. 'NO!' she thought.

'Here's my chance!' Sasuke thought as he did a series of hand seals. He yelled in his mind, 'Katon: Karyu Endan!' A large fire dragon appeared and melted all of Haku's mirrors. Sasuke smiled triumphantly, but was disappointed when the girl wasn't even paying attention to him anymore. Her eyes where glued to the scene in front of her.

Naruto was currently rushing towards the bridge. 'Shit shit shit! I'm later than I was last time, I can't afford to be late!' he said as he set his gravity seal to normal and rushed with inhuman speed towards the bridge.

Kakashi had finished powering up his Chidori to it's full potential and locked eyes with Zabuza. "Any last words, Zabuza?" he asked.

"Eat shit, Hatake!"

Kakashi rushed towards Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama!" Haku screamed as she got in front of him.

"Oh shit!!" Naruto screamed as he looked at the scene and poured chakra on his feet to go even faster.

Kakashi's technique collided with flesh, effectively pouring out blood in the air.

Haku's eyes widened with horror. She felt a hand and blood at her chest area. She couldn't move. Zabuza was in even greater shock than his partner. He couldn't believe what happened, and by the looks of it, neither could Kakashi.

There, in front of him, stood Naruto with Kakashi's hand going right through his right shoulder blade. Naruto coughed up some blood, which landed on Haku's face. She didn't even flinch. She was too shocked at what she was seeing. Despite Naruto's current situation, he smiled fondly at her. "I…told…you…(cough)…I…wouldn't…(gasp)…let…you…(cough)…get…hurt." Naruto said in a very weak voice. His eyes rolled back and his body limped forward, stopping only when he bumped into Haku. She put him down gently.

'No…it cant be! He couldn't have!' Sasuke thought as he became traumatized by the scene.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said with shock detectable in his voice.

Haku looked at Naruto's motionless body. She checked for any signs of life. She couldn't find none. She closed her eyes and tried not to let her emotions overwhelm her, but all that did was bring back flashbacks of her conversation with him yesterday.

"_I've been through a lot in my life. I was born in a village where I was shunned for something that I have no control over."_

"_I was always alone."_

"_Slowly, I started finding people who would accept me for who I was, and I couldn't be any happier."_

"_I'm sorry I couldn't save you Haku, I promise you that I will never let you get hurt again."_

"_He's not the only one who is willing to take care of you Haku."_

She started shedding the tears she was trying so hard to keep back.

Kakashi's ninja dogs disappeared with a poof sound. Zabuza smirked and started swinging his sword at Kakashi, only to have it stopped by a pissed off Haku.

"What the hell are you doing Haku?!" yelled Zabuza

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" she screamed.

Zabuza was shocked beyond belief. He has never heard Haku scream this pissed off before. Never mind that, he has NEVER heard Haku yell at all before.

"H-Haku?" He said stunned.

Haku was shedding tears, yet, her face was livid and had it aimed right at him.

"This is your fault! Why did you refuse his offer? Why!? TELL ME?!"

"I already told you, they wouldn't give a shit about us!" He screamed back.

"BULLSHIT! Does THAT looked like he didn't give a shit about me?" she said pointing at Naruto.

"He saved my life Zabuza…he sacrificed himself to save me…" she said as she started to sob.

"So why…Zabuza…why did you refuse." she said as she started pounding on his chest. Zabuza has never been so lost in thought in his life. Haku openly hugged Zabuza and started crying in his chest.

"Why does everyone I care for have to die…" She said.

Zabuza's only response was to hug her back. He didn't know what to say to her.

"Well well, look what we have here." Gatou said as he and hundreds of his lackeys appeared vaguely through the mist. "Looks like you took care of one Zabuza, but that's the wrong target, you moron. I wanted the old man dead!"

"YOU!" Haku seethed.

"Hmm? Oh, your that damn brat that broke my arm!" He yelled, then settled down and smirked. "It appears that I will get my revenge on you after all. Guards!" Gatou yelled. "Take care of them, but leave the little girl alive. I want to have some "fun" with her." He said evilly

"Hai!" They all said in unison.

"Kakashi, looks like were not enemies anymore. What do you say we handle these bunch of fools?"

Kakashi remained silent. He kept on looking towards Naruto's still body.

"Oi Kakashi! Did you hear me?!" Zabuza yelled

"…I killed him." he said dejectedly

"Hatake, right now is not the time to morn. You'll have enough time for that later. Help us out over here!" He yelled.

"…right." He said. He pushed his current emotions aside and mentally calculated the best course of action.

Haku was not that patient.

"I'll kill you, you bastard!" Haku yelled.

"No Haku, wait!" Zabuza yelled.

His warning went to trough deaf ears as she rushed towards Gatou's guards and fought bravely to get trough.

"Shit! Hatake, we have to attack NOW!" Zabuza yelled as he ran towards some guards. Kakashi followed through.

* * *

_Inside Naruto's mind…_

"Oh, what a headache." Naruto whined as he grabbed his head. He looked around as his surroundings and cursed his luck. 'Ah fuck! Not now!' he thought. He walked around until he found his least favorite part of his subconscious, Kyuubi's den.

"**Well well, look who's come to pay me a visit." **Kyubi smirked. **"And I thought that with all your great, amazing power, you wouldn't need to be here for a few years. I guess I gave you too much credit."**

"Shut up, you stupid fox! Why the hell am I here now? Don't tell me I died again!"

"**Close.****Your**** in a dead like state right now. ****Your**** very lucky that I need you alive to survive kit, otherwise I wouldn't help such an idiot as yourself."**

"I'm not asking for your help fox! I'll find a way out myself!"

"**FOOL! Like I'll give you a choice to deny my power! You couldn't do shit about it when I sent you here! What makes you think you can do shit about it now! Now shut up, Wake up, and go save your pathetic friends before I change my mind!" **Kyubi yelled as he poured enough of his chakra to heal Naruto's fatal wound.

* * *

_At the bridge…_

Kakashi, Zabuza, Haku, and even Sasuke where gravely injured from all of the ninjas that where attacking them. It was suicide to think they could stand a chance against an army of samurais and ninjas. There was too much of a power difference.

"Any other great plans Hatake?" Zabuza said sarcastically as he picked himself up from the floor. Everybody was pretty much spent from all the fighting, it would take a miracle for them to survive. Well, that miracle came from somewhere they would of least suspected.

Everybody froze when they felt a wave of a very powerful, yet demonic Chakra. Kakashi instantly recognized this chakra signature.

"W-Where the 9 Fucking hells is that coming from?!" Zabuza yelled as he stumbled back at the floor.

"N-No way!" Sasuke yelled as he saw Naruto's body rise up by itself. His body was still limp, but the chakra was holding him up, making it appear like his dead body was floating towards them.

Haku turned around as soon as she heard Sasuke's shocked voice. She became petrified at the sight of Naruto's body landing right in front of them. When Naruto turned back, She could see that his whisker marks had become wide, his canine teeth had elongated, and most noticeably, his eyes had slit and become red.

Naruto looked intensely at Haku and notice that she had a worried look on her face.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she asked meekly.

Naruto's intense stare didn't falter one bit. He kept quiet looking at her, then he checked out all of her cuts and bruises. "Did they do this to you?" he asked her. She nodded her head. Naruto turned around and started walking towards Gatou and his men, Intensifying his chakra with every step.

"I'm giving you the count of three to get the fuck out of my sight. One!" he yelled as he put both of his hands on the left side of his hips, as if he was holding on to something.

Everyone was too scared to move.

"Two!" He yelled as he trusted his right hand up, revealing a dark green glowing blade of chakra. He brought it down to both of his hands and increased his Chakra output.

Everybody started scrambling at the sight. Gatou started yelling at them, promising unemployment and what not.

"THREE!"

Naruto Moved with lightning fast speed. Not even a second after Naruto was standing back at the same spot where he began. He had his eyes closed and his head down. Everybody else had stopped moving as if nothing happened at all.

Suddenly, all of Gatou's men, including himself, gushed out blood and fell on the floor in pieces. It was a gruesome sight indeed. Everybody that was still there looked at Naruto in shock. He opened his eyes to reveal the ocean blue they where accustomed to. He looked at the people in front of them. "Gomennasai." He said softly and promptly fainted.

"Naruto-kun!" Haku yelled as she gathered the little strength she had left to catch him before he fell.

After a short while of questioning Naruto's condition. They heard a sharp gasp coming from behind them.

"What happened here? Did you guys do all this?!" Tazuna asked as he saw all of Gatou's men and Gatou himself in different pieces.

"No. All of this was done by Naruto." Sasuke said in a state of disbelief.

"Naruto killed THIS many people by himself?" Sakura asked more shocked at his ability to do such a thing than actually killing someone.

"H-Hai. He did this to protect us." Haku said.

Sakura looked at everybody and notice Zabuza and Haku wasn't trying to kill the rest of her team.

"So does that mean your on our side now?" Sakura asked.

"Hai." both Zabuza and Haku said in unison

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Thank kami everything is over. Let me look at your wounds so that I can heal them."

Kakashi looked at Sakura with shock. "Since when can you heal?" He asked.

"Kakashi, you should pay more attention to us. There's a lot of things you don't know. If you have the decency to show up on time or not leave when we practice, you might notice what we are capable of." She replied.

Kakashi lead out a groan. "What else are you guys not telling me?" Sakura chuckled a bit. "If you want to know, you should ask Naruto. He's the one who's taught us what we know." She said.

"I'll make sure I'll do that." 'Though I should apologize for almost killing him first.' Kakashi thought.

* * *

_The next day…_

Haku was currently watching as Naruto sleep on his bed. He still hasn't woken up from the incident that had happened at the bridge. She has been by his side almost all night. She wanted to be the first to greet him when he got up. Haku was looking at him when she suddenly noticed his face contract.

"Naruto-kun?" She asked with a hopeful tone in her voice as she shook his chest a bit.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and was greeting by a smiling Haku. Naruto couldn't remember where he was, or how he got there for that matter, but seeing Haku smile like that erased all his worries for the moment. "Hey." He said.

"Hey." She said back.

"What happened? Where am I? How did I get here?" Naruto asked.

"We are currently in Tazuna's house. We brought you here after the battle we had at the bridge." she said softly.

Naruto's mind went into overdrive and remembered everything that happened.

He got up quickly and had a shocked look in his face.

"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" She said, a little worried he would panic.

He looked at her and his eyes started watering. "Your still here…" he said softly.

Haku looked at him worriedly, but her worry quickly became shock and embarrassment as she felt him hugging her fiercely. "Your alive." He chuckled. "Your actually alive!" He said as he grabbed her arms and jumped up and down in excitement.

She felt herself blush at his enthusiasm "Of course I'm alive Naruto-kun, and It's all thanks to you. If you wouldn't of taken the hit, that jutsu would of hit me straight at my heart." she said.

Her face softened up after remembering that event. "Naruto-kun, promise me you won't do something like that again." she said.

Naruto looked at her and noticed that her eyes had become misty. "Why? Didn't you want to be saved?" He asked remembering how much she wanted to die the first time he battled her at the bridge.

"It's not that, it's just…" she bit her lip. Haku looked up at Naruto and he suddenly felt her push him down. "You almost died yesterday taking that hit. It felt like the day I saw my mom die in front of my eyes. I didn't know what to do. I started panicking and snapped. I don't know what I would do if I see you die again." she said as she sobbed on the crook of his neck.

Naruto placed his arms around her and whispered sweet reassurances as he tried to calm her down. It took a while for her to actually do so, but once she did, she started falling asleep. He turned around a little bit and placed her in a sleeping position on the bed. He then placed on hand on her cheek and said. "Don't worry Haku, I can't promise that I won't put myself in that type of position anymore, but I'll promise you that I won't die anytime soon. I can guarantee it."

Haku smiled in her sleep and mumbled something that sounded like "Arigato." Naruto covered her in blankets and left the room.

When Naruto arrived at the kitchen, He was pleasantly surprised to see Kakashi and Zabuza engaging in an arm wrestling contest. 'It seems that Zabuza is just as competitive as Gai-sensei.' Naruto thought.

He had a distressful look on his face when he remembered that Gai died in a fight against Kisame. He didn't know how, but he swore to make sure to take care of the Akatsuki before anything too serious happens.

"Naruto! You're awake!" Sakura screamed.

Naruto shook his current thoughts away and smiled brightly at Sakura. "Ohayo Sakura-chan!" he greeted.

Sakura walked towards him and gave him a friendly hug. "I'm so glad that youre better. You gave us all quite a scare at the bridge."

Naruto thought back to what happened at the bridge and let out a stressful sigh. "Sorry you all had to see that back there. I'll explain to you guys what happened when we get back to Konoha. Just give me a few days to sort things out." he said.

Sasuke came into the kitchen and he appeared to be a little shocked to see Naruto already up, but he smirked non the less. "Look who finally decided to get up. It's been boring around here without you keeping me entertained dobe. When do you think you'll be ready to start sparring again?' he asked.

"Easy! I just got up Sasuke-teme! Let me see how everybody's doing first!" Naruto said.

"Humph, whatever. I'll be at the training at the clearing. Meet me over there whenever you feel ready." And with that, Sasuke left.

Even though Naruto missed it, he could tell that Zabuza won the match since he had a satisfied smirk on his face while Kakashi sulked at the other end of the table.

"Hey kid, nice to see you awake." Zabuza said as Naruto walked into their field of vision.

"Yeah, we were getting a little worried about your health." Tsunami said as she walked in with breakfast.

"I'm ok, really. I can see why you guys would worry seeing that I wouldn't wake up, but I just needed the extra sleep to recover. I feel all better now." Naruto said.

Tsunami gave him a good look and seemed to be satisfied with what she saw. "Well, are you hungry?"

Naruto nodded his head sheepishly. "Yeah, I sort of am."

"Well, sit down, I'll go get you your breakfast." Tsunami said.

"Arigato."

"It's no trouble. I can't have my savior running around with an empty stomach, now can I?" she said as she pinched his cheek in a motherly fashion.

Naruto rubbed his sore cheek and whined, which made Tsunami chuckle as she headed to the kitchen to prepare his breakfast.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you. There have been certain "events" that have come to my attention, and I need some answers." Kakashi said as he got up from the table.

"Can't I have breakfast first?" Naruto whined.

"Now Naruto." Kakashi said firmly.

"Alright, Alright! I'm coming!" Naruto said as he got up from his seat and followed Kakashi outside.

Once they where out far enough, Naruto began.

"So, what do you want to know?" Naruto asked.

"Everything you have been keeping a secret from me." Kakashi said firmly. "I've had my suspicions about you for a while because you know several techniques that you shouldn't know at your age. At first, I just dismissed them because I thought you learned them at the village somehow…" he said matter-of-factly. "…But recently, Sasuke and Sakura have been using strange jutsus that they claim you taught them."

"Really?" Naruto asked feigning shock. "What kind of jutsus are we talking about here?"

"I'm talking about the kind that would have been impossible for you to learn without getting a sensei before becoming a Genin. Sakura used a medical technique on us when we where wounded at the bridge, while Sasuke managed to use the Karyu Endan technique. Granted, he is an Uchiha, and they are known to know fire jutsus, but the fact that he told me you taught him this rules the other option out. Now, how did you learn these techniques?"

Naruto contemplated on what to do. 'Should I tell him? I really don't see any other way around it. The problem is, would he believe me?'

Naruto sighed and looked up at Kakashi. "No it's something your not ready to hear yet." Kakashi's eye perked up.

"Why?"

"Because your not so I'm sorry but maybe latter." He said as he ran a fast as he could from Kakashi.

* * *

The days passed by without many problems. Everyone was enjoying their stay at Tazuna's house and life couldn't get any better. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. The bridge was finally complete and it was time for team seven to head back home. After they said their long goodbyes, team seven had the honor of being the first people to cross the bridge.

At the other end of the bridge, Two figures where standing there waiting patiently for them.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at seeing them.

"Momochi." Kakashi said

"Hatake" Zabuza replied.

The conversation soon picked up when both of them smirked. "So, have you decided what you're going to do? The offer still stands. We could use a fine shinobi such as yourself."

"Aren't you forgetting someone Hatake?" Zabuza said as he drifted his eyes towards Haku.

"Of course, she is also more than welcome. I doubt Naruto would have it any other way." Kakashi said as he directed his gaze towards Naruto.

Naruto, who was currently having a conversation with Haku, suddenly sneezed.

"Bless you Naruto-kun." Haku said.

"He-he, sorry about that Haku-chan, I must be getting sick with this weather." He said as he wiped the mucus out of his nose.

"I thought you said that you never get sick? I distinctly remember you saying something about your 'amazing immune system.'" She teased.

"…Shut up!" he said as he humph-ed for good measure. Haku only giggled at his antics.

"Look at those two." Zabuza said. "I've never seen Haku act so care free with anybody other than me before. It would be a real shame to keep them apart."

Kakashi looked at him quizzically. "Are you saying what I think your saying?"

Zabuza smirked at him. "You are indeed a smart one Hatake. Always looking underneath the underneath, huh?"

Kakashi smiled. "That's what I'm good at. They will be very happy with your decision."

"Let's not tell them yet." Zabuza said as he watched Haku laugh while Naruto told stories of his old pranks. "I wouldn't want to ruin their fun."

Kakashi nodded and smiled at the scene, wishing that days like these would never end.

When Kakashi told team seven about Haku about Zabuza's decision, there were mixed reactions. Sasuke was indifferent about the subject, of course. Sakura was slightly happy because she had gotten close with Haku; however, she was still terrified of Zabuza. Naruto developed a huge grin on his face and jumped up with joy. Haku, on the other hand, was happy about it, but she still had an uneasy feeling trusting other people.

Naruto noticed Haku's uneasiness and tried to reassure her. "Oi, Haku-chan, if you're worried about how people will treat you, don't be. The Hokage would never let anything bad happen to you, or Zabuza for that matter. Besides," he paused and he became slightly somber. "with me around, they'll hardly notice either of you." he said.

Haku remembered what Naruto told her on the day they met at the clearing. She felt bad for reminding him about how people treated him there, but once she looked at how quickly he became happy, she shrugged off her worries for the moment.

"Naruto-kun, what's it like to live in your village?" she asked.

Naruto's smile brightened up instantly. "Well, Konoha is a very lively village compared to the Country of Wave. The streets are often filled with peddlers and busy citizens. There are trees everywhere you turn. We even have those Sakura trees! I'll show you one once we get there, I think you'll like it!"

Haku smiled at him. "I'm looking forward to it." she said.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Haku was feeling a little awkward. She wanted to know something that had been bugging her for a while, so she finally decided to ask. "Naruto-kun, why does the village hate you?"

Naruto's happy demeanor fell. "It's not necessarily that they hate me per say, it's more like they fear me for what I have inside of me." he said.

Haku gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"You of all people should know Haku. Why did people fear you?" he asked.

Haku looked at Naruto as if realization hit her in her face. "You have a Blood-limit?" she asked.

"Well, I wouldn't call my situation a Blood-limit. It's more like a curse for me." He said

Haku looked at him as if begging for details. Naruto sighed. "Tell you what, I'll let you know exactly what it is once we set up camp. It will take us more than a day to arrive at Konoha."

Haku looked a little disappointed that the conversation was over, but agreed none the less.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. They covered a lot of ground and if they keep the same pace, they would arrive at Konoha the next day around noon. Team Seven and Team Zabuza finally decided to set up camp. Haku was waiting all day for this.

Naruto sat down on the ground next to the fire. Haku, not really worried about how close they where, sat right next to him.

"Well, I'm glad you two are getting along great. I was expecting to give Sasuke and Sakura 'the talk' first, but it seems that I was proven wrong once again by the most unpredictable ninja from Konoha." Kakashi said.

Naruto and Haku blushed at what Kakashi was implying, causing Haku to scoot back a little bit. Zabuza laughed at Haku's uneasiness.

"Hatake, I don't know about your student, but you shouldn't patronize mine. I once caught her reading one of those books you carry with you all the time, you know." Zabuza said smirking.

Haku's whole face turned two shades of red. "That's enough, Zabuza-sama!" she yelled. She felt even more embarrassed now than the time Zabuza actually caught her reading that book.

Sakura, who had just arrived with fresh fish with Sasuke, found the scene hilarious and decided to put her own input. "Haku, I'm shocked!" she said feigning disbelief. "I would have never thought you would be the perverted type."

"Oh kami!" Haku said as she covered her face to hide her embarrassment. "I didn't know it was THAT type of book, I swear! I just opened it and Zabuza appeared when I began reading the first chapter!" she said.

Kakashi, Zabuza and Sakura laughed at her excuse. Naruto would of laughed too if he hadn't been too embarrassed about his current situation, but Sasuke just didn't find anything funny about the whole situation.

"If you don't mind," Sasuke said, "I would like to start cooking these fish, so MAKE SOME ROOM!"

Naruto scooted enough to give Sasuke and Sakura some space to sit around the fire. Too bad for Haku that Naruto scooted closer to her, because his closeness made her think of some inappropriate things she remembered from the book.

Their dinner went by without too much trouble. There was an occasional joke thrown in the conversation, but it wasn't anything too humiliating. After a long while, Haku nudged Naruto to get his attention. She looked at him with the same pleading eyes that made him remember his conversation with her earlier that day, so he nodded and began.

"Everyone, I got something important to tell you. This is something personal and I hope you will take me seriously." he said.

Everyone tensed at his tone of voice. They haven't heard him talk this seriously in a while. "What is it Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"You all remember what happened at the bridge right? You know, when I suddenly had a surge of red chakra envelop me." He asked.

Sakura sat up straighter to give him her full attention. She had asked Naruto about this a few days ago and he had said he would explain later.

"Yeah, we all remember what happened after that." Zabuza said.

Naruto looked deadpanned. "I am sorry you all had to witness me in that state. I do not like to kill people, but sometimes it is necessary to do so in order to protect those who are precious to you."

Haku felt her heart skip a beat. 'He considers me on of his precious people.' she thought. Her lips curved up a little at the thought.

"Well, the reason I mention this is because I'm pretty sure you guys are wondering what the hell that was, am I correct?" Naruto got four nods and one stoic face. 'Ha, same old Kakashi.' Naruto said as he mentally smirked at his impassiveness.

"I'm going to have to backtrack a few years in order for you guys to understand. I know Sasuke and Sakura already know about this story, but I need to make sure Haku and Zabuza knows it in order for them to get a clear view of what happened." There were a few seconds of silence before Naruto began.

"About twelve years ago, in the great village of Konoha, a great tragedy occurred. Sometime during the month of October, one of the great demons that roam the earth violently attacked the village. This demon was known as the great Kyuubi no Kitsune, the strongest one out of nine demons. It is said that one of its tails had enough power to cause tsunamis and crumble mountains. Our people fought bravely to defend themselves, but even with all of our shinobi forces, we didn't have enough power to bring the beast down."

Naruto noticed everyone was paying attention, so he continued. "What our generation were taught during the academy was that our Forth Hokage had found a way to kill the demon, at the cost of his own life. This is not necessarily true."

Sasuke and Sakura perked up at this. "What do you mean Naruto?" asked Sakura, beginning to fear where Naruto was heading with the story.

"It is true that the Fourth Hokage gave up his life for the sake of the village, but you need to understand that demons are immortal. He did the best thing he could think of in order to ensure the village safety. He sealed the demon away."

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Thank kami. I thought that the demon would still be running around loose somewhere."

It seems that everyone except Sakura had figured out what Naruto was trying to say.

"N-Naruto, don't tell me The Fourth…" Sasuke began.

Everyone was looking at Naruto with fear, hoping that their intuition wasn't correct.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked as she noticed his look of horror. She then noticed everyone except Kakashi looking at Naruto with fear. "What's going on? Why are you guys looking at him like that?" she asked.

"Sakura," Naruto said, "The Fourth sealed the Kyubi inside me."

Sakura's eyes widened with horror. "N-No way! That can't be true!" She yelled as her body started trembling with fear. "W-Why would he seal that creature on a h-human?!"

Naruto closed his eyes to clear away everyone's look of horror. "Sakura, you have to understand," Naruto began as his voice began to crack. "Everybody was dying. He would do anything to save the few people who where lucky enough to stay alive. He needed to seal the demon on a newborn child because it was the only thing capable of holding a demon with so much power. I just happened to be born on October 10, making me the lucky candidate."

Everyone was dead quiet. Naruto was expecting something like this to happen, but no matter how much he was expecting it, it still hurt to see his precious people look at him with such fear.

"N-Naruto." Sakura began. "I-Is there any c-chance for it to e-escape from your body?" She asked, fearful of what may happen if it does.

Naruto stayed quiet for a few seconds before answering. He let out a depressing laugh before looking at Sakura with bloodshot eyes. "You don't know how many times I almost got killed because of that very question Sakura. People where willing to kill me to make sure Kyuubi had no chance to escape from my body."

Everyone, including Kakashi, had widened their eyes in shock after hearing this. Sakura got up from where she was sitting and knelt down where Naruto was, hugging him slowly. "Naruto…" she said as tears fell from her eyes. "…I didn't know how bad your life has been." she said as she hugged him tighter. "I'm sorry for ever hurting you."

Naruto returned the hug. "It's ok Sakura-chan. Don't worry about it." He chuckled lightheartedly as he patted her back. "At least you hated me for being me." he said.

She chuckled lightly too. Everyone else just looked on at the scene. A few where a little jealous, but other than that, they where happy at how close they where now.

Sakura gave Naruto a quick friendly peck on the cheek before she went to sit down next to Sasuke. This caused two people to get more than just a little jealous, but both didn't make any comment.

Zabuza studied Naruto quietly. "So kid, are you saying that the power we felt at the bridge was that of the Nine tails?" He asked.

Naruto turned his attention to Zabuza. "That is correct. Whenever I'm about to die, Kyubi gives me some of his power to help me survive, for if I die, he dies. I can usually control his power, but there are times in which I have to struggle to keep control."

"Naruto, how long have you known about this?" Sasuke asked surprisingly serious.

Naruto made eye contact with him before answering. "I've known about this the day before we graduated."

"So that means…oh, Naruto-kun." Haku said as she looked down in a desperate attempt to control her emotions.

"Yeah." Naruto said, "That means that I didn't even know why everyone hated me so much until recently."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as they flashed into Sharingan. "When I find out who tried to hurt you, they are going to wish that they were dead." Sasuke said as he got up and walked into the forest.

"Sasuke-kun! Wait!" Sakura yelled as she followed to comfort him.

Naruto looked up at their retreating forms. "Should we leave them alone for a while?" he asked.

"I think we all need to have some time alone to sort things out." Kakashi said. "You want to keep first watch?" he asked.

"Sure." Naruto said.

"Alright, I'm going to get some shuteye, wake me up in two hours." Kakashi said as he left toward his tent.

Zabuza looked at the two kids in front of him. Haku was still clinging tightly against Naruto and he inwardly smirked. "I might as well get some sleep too. Don't stay up too late Haku, your going to need your rest." and with that, he left towards his tent.

"…Naruto-kun." Haku said after a long silence. "You and I are a lot alike you know. Both of us where shunned because of something the villagers didn't understand. Both of us had people who tried to kill us. Both of us don't have any parents anymore. But most importantly…" she said as she hugged him tighter. "Both of us know the feeling of being truly alone. I never want to feel like that again."

Naruto massaged her back with his hand. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. You will always have Zabuza to take care of you." Naruto said. Haku felt a little relieved, even though that wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear. "Plus, if he's not enough, you can always count on me to be there when you need me." Naruto said.

This was exactly what she wanted to hear. She let a tear of happiness fall down her cheek as she cuddled with Naruto and drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Morning came pretty quickly for team seven and team Zabuza. When everyone was assembled Naruto had a few things he needed to take care of.

"Ohayo everyone!" Naruto said with a bright smile. He got a lot of sleepy grumbles as a response. He laughed a little.

"I know, I know. It's still early, but I need to get some things out." he said. "First of all, I need to apologize for what happened last night. I needed to get that out of the way so you guys know exactly what to expect the next time something like that happens." he got a bunch of nods. "Okay. Zabuza, Haku, Kakashi-sensei, take of your gloves and stretch out your hands." He got a few raised eyebrows, but they complied non the less. When Naruto started drawing strange symbols on their hands, Haku widened her eyes in realization while Sasuke and Sakura smirked.

"This is…" Haku said. "This is the thing that made Sasuke faster when I battled him! What's the other one for?" she asked

"I'll explained it when I'm done." Naruto said.

"Naruto, I can't believe you haven't given Kakashi-sensei those yet." Sakura said.

Sasuke let out a true smile. "I can't believe he never noticed it until I actually had to use it."

Kakashi's face remained stoic. "Naruto, I've never seen these types of seals before."

"That's because I created them Kakashi-sensei." He said. Kakashi's eye widened just a bit at the realization and said nothing else.

After completing the sealing process, he explained what each seal did and how it could be used. After everything was said, Zabuza and Kakashi set their seal at three times normal gravity while Haku set hers at two times.

It was safe to say that because of this, they arrived at Konoha a little later than they expected. Once they identified themselves, the guards let them pass through the gates.

Haku was impressed at how beautiful the village looked. Everything seemed peaceful and busy at the same time. There where children playing without a care in the world while some peddlers set up their carts to start their business.

Zabuza looked around without a hint of an expression. "Hatake, Is your village always this carefree? There's hardly any security around, if at all."

"Don't worry about that." Kakashi said. "Even though it doesn't look it, this village is very well guarded. You'll know what I mean once you get settled in."

"…Right." Zabuza said.

Kakashi looked at his team. "Well guys, you are free to go. I'll give my report to the Hokage while getting these two settled in." he said.

Sasuke didn't waste anytime with formalities and just took of towards his home. Sakura bowed to her sensei and team Zabuza before she rushed towards Sasuke's direction.

"Well," Naruto said. "I guess this is goodbye for now. If you need me for anything, you know how to reach me." He said as he pointed to his right hand. "See you later!" he said as he turned and started walking.

"Naruto-kun wait!" Haku said as she walked towards him. Naruto turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What is it Haku-chan?" He asked.

Haku closed the gap between them and hugged him fiercely. "Promise to keep in touch?" she asked.

Naruto returned the hug. "Yeah, you can count on it." he said.

Haku reached up and quickly pecked him on his cheek much like Sakura had, causing him to get a slight blush before smiling at her.

"I'll be seeing you." Haku said as she waved him goodbye.

When Haku got near Zabuza, his careful gaze on her caused her to get a small tint of red on her cheeks.

"What the hell was that Haku?" he said playfully.

"Well…you know…just saying goodbye." She said as her whole face reddened a bit.

Zabuza smiled behind his mask. "…Right. " he turned his attention towards Kakashi. "Hatake, lead the way."

"Hai." He said as he pulled out his orange book and started walking towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

Once they arrived at the office, Haku had begun to feel nervous. She was still vary afraid of how they would treat her, seeing as how Naruto was treated.

Kakashi was just finishing his report. "…and so, they decided to join our village provided that you are willing to take them in."

The Hokage took a puff of smoke from his pipe. "Momochi Zabuza, I presume?" he said.

Zabuza looked at him and smirked. "If you expect me to bow old man, forget it. You're going to have to earn my respect."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes at him. "I see that your reputation speaks for itself. Very well, let's not linger with formalities and get things started, shall we?" he asked. Zabuza remained stoic.

"Momochi Zabuza, you have been known to commit a crime in which case I cannot ignore. During your time in the Village of the Mist, you and your men attempted to assassinate the Mizukage, am I correct?"

"That you are, what of it?" He asked.

"Can you explain to me why you would try such a thing?" he asked

"I didn't like how things where run. The Mizukage didn't value any of his men's lives. This was clearly shown by the way he graduated his fellow shinobi. Instead of supporting each other, students had to fight each other to the death. This form of teaching only created emotionless weapons. I was so brainwashed by these teachings that I even killed every single one of my classmates, thinking this would make me a better shinobi. I never once valued a person's life until I met Haku. I wanted to change the way the hidden village of mist was run to make a new home for her." Zabuza said.

Sarutobi analyzed Zabuza trying to find something that would tell him he was lying. He couldn't find anything. Sarutobi then focused his attention towards Haku.

"I understand that both of your parents have passed away a few years back, am I correct?" he asked.

Haku bowed, "Yes Hokage-sama. I was born and raised on a snowy region in the Land of Water. There were many civil wars during my childhood, and since people with blood-limits where often used as weapons, many people feared them. My mother was one of those who possessed a blood-limit, and passed the trait down to me. When my Father found out about it, he gathered a mob to come get us. He successfully killed my mother, but when he tried to kill me, I accidentally triggered my blood-limit and killed the whole mob, including my father." She said a little choked up remembering her past.

"I can see that you have had a difficult life child, unfortunately, there are many like you who have similar past." Sarutobi said.

Sarutobi gathered a few papers from his desk before continuing. "It is my understanding that Zabuza has been your guardian since he has found you, correct."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi turned his attention towards Zabuza. "Momochi Zabuza, are you willing to continue caring for her well being until she becomes of legal age?"

"Not just until then, old man, I will continue to care for her whenever she needs me." Zabuza said.

Sarutobi smiled. "Good answer." He said as he signed a couple of papers. "Congratulations, as of today, both of you are now Shinobi of the Leaf. You will be tested on your skills to see what rank is best to place you. Take these forms over to the administration office to get officially signed up. Now before you leave…" Sarutobi said as he looked inside one of his filing cabinets. He grabbed a couple of forms and gave it to Zabuza.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Those are forms to make you Haku's Legal Guardian. Once those are filled out, she will officially bear your family's name."

Haku's eyes widened at the news. "I'll be a Momochi?"

Zabuza smiled and ruffled her hair. "You've always been one kid. The only difference is that you'll have ID to prove it."

Haku slowly walked towards Zabuza and hugged him softly. "Arigato, Zabuza-sama."

Sarutobi smiled at them.

"I'm sorry to break up the moment here," Kakashi said. "but I have a request, Hokage-sama."

Zabuza turned around and eyed him. "How long have you been there Kakashi?" he asked.

Kakashi sweat-dropped before answering. "I never left, Momochi. Don't you remember me giving my report a few minutes ago?"

It was Zabuza's turn to sweat-drop. "…Right. Haku, let's get going. We still need to find out how well we do on the exams."

"Hai, Zabuza-sama!" Haku replied and followed Zabuza out the door.

Sarutobi chuckled a bit. "My my, quite a busy day, don't you agree? Now, what can I help you with Kakashi?"

"Hokage-sama, I would like to request a mission to bring both Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama back to Konoha."

Sarutobi looked up at Kakashi with surprise, but quickly shook it off and put on his professional attitude. "I must ask why you would want them here so suddenly Kakashi. I'm not saying I wouldn't want them here either, but I need to know why you would make such a request."

"Well, with the upcoming Chunnin exams, I think it would be wise to have a medic-nin with Tsunade-sama's vast knowledge. You never know how seriously some of the students might get hurt."

"I can see the reasoning behind that, I will consider it." He said truthfully. "You don't have to worry about Jiraiya, he has promised me that he will arrive to see the final matches of the Chunnin exams. 'and give me some information of a certain group.' he added in thought.

"Hai, this will only make things that much easier." Kakashi said. "So can I expect a search party?" he asked.

Sarutobi thought about it for a while. "Very well. I will arrange a search party as soon as possible." he said.

"Arigato Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed before using Shunshin no Jutsu to leave.

Sarutobi sighed before he rubbed his eyebrows. 'I'm getting way too old for this. I need to start considering who could replace me in a few more years.' With that line of thought, Sarutobi reluctantly began looking over his stack of paperwork.

* * *

Sarutobi was having one of the most uneventful days he ever had. 'It's so boring. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I wish I at least have some paperwork to do.' he sighed and started tapping on his desk with his fingers.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. 'Maybe I could…' he shook his head. "No, I shouldn't be doing that here." he said aloud. He looked towards the left to see if anyone was there, nothing. He looked towards the right, also nothing. He couldn't feel anybody's chakra signature besides his guards outside the door.

He started contemplating if he should do it. 'Ah, what the hell. It's not like there's anything else to do.' he thought. Sarutobi reached into his filing cabinet and pulled out a book that looked remarkably like Kakashi's.

'What page was I on last time. Hmm…Ah yes! Here we go!' he thought as he found the exact spot he stopped reading a few weeks before. As soon as he began to read, one of his guards appeared right through the door.

"Hokage-sama!" The guard yelled.

Sarutobi face faulted before addressing the guard. "Damn it Izumo! How many times do I have to tell you to knock first!"

Kotetsu, the other guard, snickered at his friend's dilemma.

"Gomennasai, Hokage-sama, but the search party you sent out a few days ago have arrived." Izumo said.

Saurtobi raised an eyebrow at this. 'They found her already? That sure was fast.' he thought.

"Alright, send them in." he ordered.

"Hai Hokage-sama!" Izumo said before bowing.

Once he saw Izumo come out of the room, Ketetsu addressed the search party. "The Hokage is ready to see you now, you may enter." he said.

"Arigato." said a jounin with a senbon in his mouth. "Everyone, follow me." he said before all of the people in his party followed him in.

"Ah, Genma, Hayate, it's nice to see you earlier than expected." Sarutobi said.

"Hokage-sama!" Both of them said in union before bowing.

"Gees sensei, you sure like to keep them under your thumb." A young woman said.

"Tsunade, it's nice to see you again! I was wondering if you where actually going to accept my request." Sarutobi said with a smile.

"Don't get me wrong old man." She said. "I only intend to stay here until the Chunnin exams are over. Think of it as a favor for letting me take Shizune with me." she said.

Sarutobi sighed. "I really wish for you to stay here longer than that. Your medic skills are needed here more than you know."

Tsunade just snorted at that and looked the other way.

"Hokage-sama. I would like to help out in any way possible while I'm here. I will be at your service if you need me." Shizune said as she bowed to him.

Sarutobi smiled. "Very well Shizune. I'll let you know when I have something lined up for your expertise."

"Sensei, I know your all glad to see me and everything, but I really wish to get some rest. These two didn't waste any time bringing us back, if you know what I mean."

"Yes, I am very surprised they managed to find you so fast. I was expecting them to last longer than three days."

Genma and Hayate developed smirks on their faces. "Well, when you send the best of the best, what else could you expect, Hokage sama?" Genma said in a "little too cocky for his own good" voice.

Sarutobi smiled. "Indeed."

Tsunade's eyebrow started twitching. "Sensei?!" she said rather threateningly.

"Oh right. You may all leave if you don't have anything else to report." Sarutobi said.

Tsunade smiled sweetly at him and bowed. "Arigato Sensei. I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the exams. " she said before turning her attention to her disciple. "Shizune, come!" she said.

Shizune jumped up at her tone of voice and followed Tsunade obediently. Hayate and Genma left as soon as they finished paying their respect to the Hokage.

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe and sighed. He blushed a little bit before picking up his book. 'Now where was I?'

* * *

"_Kukuku, don't tell me that's the best you can do, Naruto-kun."__ Orochimaru said as he skillfully dodged Naruto's attacks._

_Naruto was currently engaging with the Snake Sannin Orochimaru. Sakura, on the other hand, was holding her own against Kabuto while Hinata was doing all she could to heal Sasuke. __Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto where the ones chosen to retrieve Sasuke after being informed of his current location.__ Based on the information, Sasuke was last seen fighting with Itachi somewhere near the border of Grass Country. When Naruto and his team arrived, Orochimaru had jumped in to ward off Itachi and use Sasuke's exhaustion to his advantage._

"_Don't move Sasuke-kun, my medic skills aren't as advanced as Sakura-sans." Hinata said._

_Sasuke didn't move a muscle. He was in a deep state of thought to notice anything that was going on. '…I couldn't beat him. All of this time training and I still couldn't beat him! Damn it, what the hell am I doing wrong?!' _

_Everyone felt a few chakra signatures getting closer to the battle scene. Hinata beamed with hope. "Thank Kami, the reinforcements are on their way!" she said aloud._

'_Damn __these pest__! I won't let them take Sasuke-kun's body away from me!' Orochumaru thought. "My my, Naruto-kun, I didn't think you would be the type to play dirty." he said._

_Naruto backed up a few feet away. "It's not like you ever play fair you snake bastard! Besides, you don't have to worry about anybody else. I have more than enough power to get rid of you." he said as he made a couple of Kage Bunshins. _

_Two of his Bunshins rushed towards Orochimaru with a kunai in hand and tried to slash him. Neither of them where able to land a hit, but they managed to succeed in keeping Orochimaru distracted._

"_Come on, just a little more…" Naruto said as he powered up his original technique to __it's__ full potential._

'_What the hell is he doing?' Orochimaru thought as he felt a surge of power coming from the boy._

"…_Yes! It's ready!" he said triumphantly. Naruto's right arm was enveloped with a light blue chakra, which was spinning wildly and emitted a low humming noise. He ran towards Orochimaru._

'_Crap!' was all Orochimaru could think of when he saw Naruto heading his way. He was successful in dispelling Naruto's Bunshins, but he didn't have enough time to dodge the incoming attack._

"_Futon: Rasengan!" Naruto screamed as he slammed the sphere right on Orochimaru's stomach. The chakra that was spinning on his arm moved forward and trapped Orochimaru in a powerful tornado. When the technique faded, Orochimaru's body hit the floor with a loud thump._

"_Orochimaru-sama!"__ Kabuto screamed as he disengaged Sakura to help his master. "Orochimaru-sama, are you alright?" he asked._

_Orochimaru's body was shredded to the point where the bone could be seen. Kabuto picked him up and started fleeing the scene. "…cough__!…__cough!…I'm…going…to…kill…that…kid…once and for all!" he yelled . Orochimaru regurgitated his Kusanagi Sword and launched it at Naruto as a last resort. _

_Naruto manage to dodge the sword just in the nick of time, but the sword kept sailing towards Sasuke and Hinata. Neither of them noticed since Hinata was still busy healing Sasuke's wounds while he was spacing out from his earlier ordeal._

"_Sasuke!__ Hinata! Look out!" Naruto screamed. Hinata looked back and noticed a long sword heading straight for Sasuke, so she did the only thing she could think of at the time. Hinata pushed Sasuke down and took the hit. The sword impaled her from her back, going straight through her heart. Her eyes widened from the pain and felt her life slowly slipping away._

_Naruto became paralyzed at the spot when he heard the sword cut flesh. He looked on as blood started staining the back of Hinata's jacket. "…No…this can't be happening…" Naruto said__ trembling with fear from what he has just witness. When Hinata's body slumped down to the floor, Naruto finally got his senses back and rushed toward her._

"_Hinata…Hinata, look at me." Naruto said as he gently slapped her cheeks a few times to wake her up. Hinata coughed up some blood and opened her eyes. She was struggling to keep her eyes focused on Naruto."…Naruto-kun…" She said weakly._

_Naruto was relieved that she was still alive. __"Sakura-chan!__ Get over here! Please hurry!" Naruto yelled frantically._

_Sakura, who was still suffering from Kabuto's attacks, rushed to his teammate's position. "…Oh no…" She said softly as she examined Hinata's injury._

"_No Sakura, don't give up! Please help her! I know you can do this, just don't give up!" Naruto yelled as he felt his eyes become moist._

_Sakura looked at his pleading eyes. She knew that she couldn't save her, but she had to try. "…Ok, I'll do what I can." She said. She slowly removed the sword from Hinata's body, causing her to gasp from the pain. _

"_Hold on Hinata, everything will be alright." Naruto choked out as Sakura began using her healing technique._

_Sakura kept trying to heal her, but no matter how hard she'd try, Hinata's condition would only worsen. Finally, Hinata stopped Sakura from trying. "It's…ok…Sakura. I…know…it's…no…use." She said weakly._

"_No! __don't__ say that! Please let her help you Hinata. I know you can make it, just don't give up!" Naruto said. Hinata closed her eyes and smiled. Naruto was now openly crying. Right now, the only thing that was important to him was Hinata's safety. _

"_Naruto-kun…please…__don't…__cry." Hinata said as she cupped his cheek with her shaky hand. "I…hate…it…when…you…cry."_

_Naruto lifted her up gently and hugged her. "Please Hinata-__chan,__ just let Sakura heal you so we could go back to Konoha." He said softly into her ear. "Once we get there, we'll let you rest and then we could go out __an eat__ together. I'll take you to all the places that you like. We could spend the rest of the day having fun with all of our friends if that is what you wish. We would be so happy and you'll never have to see me cry anymore. Please…just don't die." he said as he sobbed on the crook of her neck._

"…_Naruto-kun…" Hinata said as she leaned towards his ear. __"…I...love..you..."_

* * *

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said as she shook him lightly. Naruto was tossing and turning on the floor, sweating profusely while making painful whines. "Naruto-kun, wake up please! Your having a nightmare!"

Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She reached back and slapped him Tsunade hard on his cheek, effectively waking him up.

Naruto sat up quickly and looked around at his surroundings. He noticed that he wasn't near Grass Country anymore. It looked like he was at his old training grounds. When he met a pair of worried lavender eyes, his breathing became heavy.

"Naruto-kun, what's the matter?" Hinata asked seriously worried. She had never seen Naruto panic in her life, and it was scaring the crap out of her.

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. With his reminder of how Hinata died that day, and seeing her here with a worried expression was too much for him to take. He laid down on the floor, covered his face with his arm and started crying.

Hinata was overwhelmed by his display. Acting on her maternal instincts, she reached down and pulled him up into a hug. "Naruto-kun, calm down. It was only a bad dream. Everything is fine now, you don't have to worry." She said as she rubbed her hand in circles on his back.

It took a few more minutes for Naruto to calm down enough for them to separate. After they did, both of them felt a little awkward.

Naruto was the first to break the silence. "Gomen, Hinata-chan. For troubling you." He said.

"It's alright Naruto-kun, it was no trouble at all. I'm glad that I was able to help." she said a little timidly. There where a few more minutes of silence until Hinata decided to ask something.

"Ano, Naruto-kun. What where you doing sleeping out here? Shouldn't you be at your apartment by now?"

Naruto thought about that for a minute. "Well, you know how I usually train for hours right? I must have fallen asleep here when I decided to look at the stars." He said. "What about you?"

"Huh? Me?" she asked.

"Yeah. What where you doing before you woke me up?"

"Ano, my team and I had just finished our training for the day, so we all decided to go eat together. After we ate, we all separated and headed towards our home. Along the way, I happen to notice you laying down here and I came to check up on you to see if you were ok." she said.

"I see. I must have been really tired for me to just doze off like that." Naruto said with a sheepish grin.

Hinata giggled. 'I'm glad he's feeling better' she thought.

Naruto stood up and extended his arm to Hinata. "Well, judging by how dark it is, it must be pretty late and I'm sure your father is worried. Come on, I'll walk you home." he said

Hinata blushed a bit before taking his hand. They walked side by side is a comfortable silence. They made a few comments here and there, but it was mainly irrelevant. Soon they arrived at the compound gate.

"Well, we're here." Naruto said.

Hinata was a little reluctant to leave him, but knowing his father would be worried sick, she decided not to delay her absence any longer.

"Thank you for your accompanying me Naruto-kun. I must get going." Hinata said.

Naruto nodded his head. "No problem. I enjoyed talking with you tonight." He said before he started to leave.

Hinata stopped halfway through the gate contemplating on saying something. "Naruto-kun, wait." she said.

Naruto stopped on his tracks. "Yes?" he asked.

Hinata started playing with her fingers. "I-If you ever n-need someone to t-talk to, you can always count on me t-to be there for you." she said shyly.

Naruto looked at her with one of his sincere smiles. "Arigato Hinata-chan. I'll keep that in mind." he said.

Hinata smiled at him one last time before she headed towards the Hyuuga compound. Naruto sighed. 'I wish I could tell you Hinata, but there are some things that are better left unsaid.' he thought.

* * *

Naruto was walking towards his apartment in silence, deep in thought. There where many drunk citizens during this time of night, and he did his best to ignore their hurtful comments. However, there was one comment that he couldn't ignore.

"Nawaki…whas u doin up at dis time of night?" a woman said as she came closer to him. Naruto was shocked at what he saw.

"T-Tsunade baa-chan?" he said.

She slapped him across the head. "Who you callin grany…I'm nod thas old." she slurred.

Naruto eyed her for a few seconds. "Your drunk, aren't you?" he asked.

She laughed at that and ruffled his hair. "I'm nod drunk Nawaki, I'm just a lil tipsy." she said as she swayed back and forth.

Naruto rubbed his forehead with his fingers. 'Oh boy, she's hammered. I need to take her somewhere safe."

"Tsunade baa-chan, where did you leave Shizune?" Naruto asked. He got slapped across the head again.

"I tolds you I'm nod thas old! Call me Oneechan." She said happily towards the end.

"Alright! Just stop hitting me!" Naruto whined. Tsunade pinched his cheek lovingly. "Now, why don't yoo run along home and I'll bring you somthin special, okay?" She said.

Naruto grabbed her hand and looked at her. "Tsunade." He said becoming serious. "Where's Shizune?"

Tsunade tried to think, but with all the alcohol in her system, it was a rather difficult task.

"Shizzunay…I think shez with that Genma guy at za bar. Why? Does my Ototo have a crush on her?' she said smiling playfully.

Naruto sighed audibly. "Ok, follow me…Oneechan." Naruto said. He felt just a little weird calling her that since she thinks he's her real brother, but he put that aside for now.

"wher are yoo takin me Ototo?" Tsunade asked.

"Just follow me, we're almost there." Naruto said.

Tsunade felt the whole world spinning as she followed Naruto. She had to stop a couple of times to regain her balance. Once she was led into a house, she laid back on the wall for support.

"Where ar wee Ototo?" She asked.

"We are at my apartment." Naruto said as he grabbed her arm and led her to his bed. "Here, sit down and drink this." He said as he handed her a few hangover pills and some water.

After she drank the pills, she grabbed Naruto and hugged him fiercly. Naruto heard a couple of sobbs before he decided to look at her. "Ototo…" she said as her eyes started to water. "…I missed yoo so much!" At this point, Tsunade was looking at him with tears in her eyes as her hand started rubbing his cheek.

Naruto was stunned. He didn't know exactly what he should do. He wanted to tell her he wasn't her brother, but seeing her broken down like this was too much for him. He really cared for her like if she was his real sister, so he did the only thing he could do. He hugged her back.

Tsunade started to cry on him, but he didn't let that stop him from comforting her. He could see that she was still troubled by her past, and needed someone there to help.

"Hey…it's alright. I'm here now, there's nothing to worry about." Naruto said, trying his best to reassure her. It seemed to be working because Tsunade's crying was starting to calm down into gentle sobs. Pretty soon after that. Those sobs died down all together and all that was left was a light breathing. Naruto set her down on his bed gently and covered her up.

'I hope you remember all of this tomorrow Tsunade baa-chan, otherwise I'm screwed.' Naruto thought. Naruto took of his jacket to use it as a pillow and laid down on the floor right across from his bed. Naruto remembered exactly what day tomorrow was. He sighed. 'Tomorrow's going to be a long day.'

* * *

yo everyone

I'm here to say that this story is a harem so vote for how you want to be in it from these and 4 more are going to get added to the story apart from Haku and Hinata

Anko- 2

Tsunade-1

Ino-1

Fem Gaara-3

Temari-3

Tenten-1

Fem Neji-2

Tayuya-0

Kurenai-1

Fem Kyuubi-1

Yugito-0

Kin-0

* * *

Wow Fem Gaara is tied for frist with Temari

sibling rivalry is on so vote now

oh and these guys too

Shizune-0

Ayame-1

Hinabi-0

Say if their's any one else you want in this by the 5th chapter ok

Parings so far

SasuXSaku

NaruXHakuXHinata


	3. Redo

**I do not own Naruto. Or most of this story.**

**Recap**

* * *

If you where to ask the people of Konoha who Tsunade was, you would hear nothing but good things about her. She was once an active member of the Sannin, otherwise known as "the legendary three" . Her Medical skills and inhuman strength made her both a great asset for Konoha, and a serious threat for anyone that opposed her.

Yes, in the eyes of the common folk, Tsunade could do no wrong. But not everyone had such a skewed impression, especially the young blond who was kind enough to take her in for the night after finding her in a drunken stupor. The boy new from experience how rough life can be, and you are bound to make some mistakes in your life, no matter how hard you try not to.

_The next morning_

Tsunade woke up the next morning feeling in her exact words "a fucking pile of old dog crap" She had a hard time at remembering what had happened last night but she thought she saw her dead brother. But that couldn't be true right RIGHT. No it's impossible she said but now the thing going trow her mind was 'Where the fuck am I'

Tsunade then had a sudden panic attack and prayed she'd have clothes on her. She was relieved to see that she did indeed have her clothes on, but that only gave her a little comfort in her current situation. She gave herself a quick medical scan, just to be sure.

'…Nothing abnormal, that's a relief.' She thought as she canceled her technique. Now that her conscious was lightened a bit, she focused her attention towards the room that she was at this moment occupying. 'How the heck did I end up in here anyway?'

Her thoughts where interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door opening. Tsunade was speechless at what she saw. There, right in front of her, was a young man that looked remarkably like her little brother, only this boy had blond hair and blue eyes.

'Is this he kid from last night' she thought

The boy that she was looking at seemed to completely disregard her presence, as if he had something more important to do. He made his way across the messy room with ease, apparently looking for something in his drawer. There was a lot of mumbling and grumbling going on while he searched for whatever he was looking for. Alas, after countless minutes of searching, the boy gave a triumphant shout of glee as he grabbed what appeared to be plastic cups.

Tsunade turned her head towards the boy as he walked off the room; again, totally ignoring her presence as if she wasn't even in the room. Not one word was exchanged during the whole ordeal, and that got Tsunade just a little aggravated.

"Oi, Gaki! Who the hell are you!" she screamed a little hoarsely.

"Just give me a couple of minutes obaa-chan, this won't take long!" Naruto yelled merrily from the other side of the door.

Tusnade's eyebrow twitched. How dare he call her that! It took her years to come up with a jutsu to permanently conceal her age, and yet, this boy had the gall to call her an old woman!

"Watch what you call me you little twerp! I may be older than you, but I'm not old enough to be called a granny!" She yelled heatedly.

Naruto laughed whole-heartedly. Messing with Tsunade was always one of his favorite pass times, and just because this Tsunade doesn't know him personally doesn't mean he wouldn't have his fun. "Gomen, Gomen! I didn't mean to insult you like that! It's just with all those wrinkles, I thought for sure you'd be a granny!" He shouted back.

"Wrinkles…WHAT WRINKLES!?" She yelled, terrified beyond belief.

Tsunade dreaded the thought of having any sort of wrinkle on her silky smooth skin. Had her technique faltered while she was asleep? She wasted no time finding out.

Jolting out of Naruto's bed, Tsunade headed strait to the nearest mirror, which happened to be the one on top of Naruto's drawer. She desperately looked for any signs of aging across her face, only to find it just the way she had before.

'That bastard tricked me!' She thought, getting more agitated by the second.

Naruto chose this time to burst out laughing. He was standing in the doorway holding a plastic cup on his right hand and two chopsticks on his left hand. He pointed the chopsticks towards Tsunade, giving her his patented foxy grin.

"You should of seen the look on your face! It was priceless! I didn't think you would fall for such a simple prank!"

Naruto's speech was interrupted by a colossal punch to the gut, making him drop his cup of ramen and wheeze out in pain.

"Stupid brat! You shouldn't make me worry like that!" Tsunade said.

"…ow…that…freaking…HURT!"

"That's what you get for making a fool out of me!" Tsunade said as she huffed and crossed her arms.

Naruto suddenly gasped in shock. "Oh no! My Ramen! My dear sweet, sweet Ramen!!" he wailed comically as he looked at the wasted food on the floor.

Tsunade only raised an eyebrow, not completely sure how to respond to something like that.

"This is all your fault! This was one of my ultra-rare famous blend of Ramen that one one has ever been produced in the world! And now it's ruined! Do you have ANY idea of how hard it was for me to find that!? Nothing you say or do can justify for what you have done today you old hag!"

"…It's just a chicken flavored Ramen, get over it." Tsunade deadpanned.

Naruto looked at the label and it was indeed a chicken flavored Ramen, one of the most common flavored Ramen you could find in any local store.

"Oh…that one must have been the one I made for you…heh heh." Naruto laughed, somewhat embarrassed for making such a simple mistake.

Tsunade looked genuinely surprised from his subtle act of kindness. "You actually made me something to eat?" she asked.

Naruto had already gotten up and was currently in his kitchen. "Of course! Whether you realize it or not, you're my guest for today!" He yelled from the kitchen.

Naruto came walking in with another cup and chopsticks, but this time, he immediately gave it to Tsunade.

"…Thank you…umm…"

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto, Future Rokudaime of Konoha! My Name will go down in history as one of the most amazing shinobis who'd ever lived. That's Uzumaki Naruto, remember it well." He yelled out proudly, grinning like an idiot after proclaiming his goal.

Tsunade stopped midway from eating her ramen she heard him say his name. 'Uzumaki? This kid couldn't be the kyuubi kid, could he?' she thought.

Tsunade glanced up from her cup of ramen and examined Naruto's characteristics for the second time. It didn't take her long to noticed the whisker marks on his cheeks this time, now that she was aware of who he was.

'Yep, that's him alright. I remember those whisker marks very well. It's the mark of the greatest demon ever to roam the earth. He must have lived a very hard life here in Konoha.' She thought.

'…and yet, he seems so carefree. Almost as if nothing bad has ever happened to him in his life.' Seeing him grin like that reminded her of how Jiraiya's pupil used to be.

'He sure did get his looks from his father, but seeing as how much of a goofball he is, he mostly resembles his mother.'

Naruto waved his hand across Tsunade's face, trying to snap her out of her self induced trance. "Oi, wake up obaa-chan! I know many people doubt my dream, but thinking about it shouldn't fry your brain like that!" Naruto said, a bit disappointed in Tsunade's reaction.

Tsunade knocked him across the head. "Don't call me that you brat!"

After she composed herself, she continued. "That wasn't what I was thinking about. I could care less about your proclamation! Being a Hokage isn't as great as you make it out to be, you still have a lot to learn about how things work."

Naruto's happy demeanor changed drastically. He had forgotten how sour Tsunade's view towards Konoha was.

"…Hey, don't take it personally gaki, but the way things are being run right now isn't the best way to go about it." Tsunade said.

"…If you don't like the way things are being run, why don't you do something about it?"

Tsunade got a brief flashback from the time she requested a medical ninja to be placed on each team, only to be rejected because of lacking funds. She had fought diligently to make her vision a reality, but in the end, it was cheaper and faster to supply shinobi with weapons, as opposed to supplying them with medical jutsus.

"Like I said, you still got a lot to learn kid. Things don't always go the way you want them to, even though you try your best to change them."

Naruto layed down on his bed. "I know that already. Even though it doesn't look like it, I've been through a lot of scenarios where things don't go the way I planned…" he suddenly got an epiphany. "…which reminds me."

Naruto closed his eyes briefly for a few seconds, only to open them with mild shock. "Shit, They're here already!" he said.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow questionably. "Who's here?"

"Sorry, that's a secret!" Naruto winked as he walked towards the door. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"Any who, You can stay here as long as you like, just make sure you lock the door on your way out. I suggest you finish that ramen you got there before it gets cold. See you later, Tsunade ba-chan!"

Naruto barely managed to close the door before getting hit by one of his scrolls, which was evidently thrown by Tsunade.

"Curse that brat! I've only just met him and he's more of a pain in the ass than Jiraiya is!" Tsunade fumed.

* * *

yo everyone

I'm here to say that this story is going to have a harem so vote for how you want to be in it from these and 4 more are going to get added

to the story apart from Haku and Hinata(Thay have it made)

Tsunade-34

Fem Gaara-33

Temari-32

**Tenten-57 She wins in being the first girl for the parings  
**

Fem Neji-33

Fem Kyuubi-33

Yugito-31

Ayame-31

Their can only be 5 or 6 more girls so come on vote

Oh yeah some kids in my school told me their votes

Parings so far (Yes I know some of them are weard but most of the are side parings anyway and all remaning girls will be put with a dude)

IrukaXShsz

KakaXAnko

LeeXHinabi

ShikaXIno

SasuXSaku

NaruXHakuXHinataXTenten


	4. Revamp

**I do not own Naruto. Or most of this story.**

* * *

Sarutobi was having the worst day in his whole time in being the Hokage.

This morning the idiotic counsel thought that Naruto was getting to strong too fast and that he should be killed for the simple minded thought that the fox was taking control of him.

So it came down to this the one thing that may be able to save Naruto's life...

He was going to tell them that he was the Yodamie's son.

'Oh well' he thought 'here it goes'

"Members of the shinobi and citizen counsels I have a statement to make."

All members of the room stopped their talking listening to what the hokage had to say.

"You all know what the Yodamie did to save this village."

All knew at once that this was about that cursed demon brat and the killing intent in the room rose up like a wave as the hokage went on.

"Well as I see that right now is the time that I can tell you The Yodamie had a son."

The whole room came out with shouts and yells of "WHAT!!"

"Yes and I can guess that none of you in this room can even guess who it is can you?'

That the Nara family head eyes popped open as he figured it out the son the the Yodamie was….

"Naruto." He said in a whisper as the room looked at him in shock.

"You can't mean…" one of the civilians started to say in a stutter.

"That the demon brat.." someone continued for him shaking in fear.

"Is his son." Sasutobi finished for all of them smiling, hopping they might stop the death penalty on the young boy when he saw that evil glint that was in his team mates eyes.

"Lord Hokage that would mean that the boy must go throw **okami-chigo-shinsei****"**

Sarutobi's eyes had widened in pure shock 'no they can't do that.'

"Because on the word of the yodamie, stating that he would rebuild his clan and that the** okami-chigo-shinsei** was put on him for that reason, it is to sat that it now gose on to his son."

"You can't make a 12 year old boy find who he wants to live with for the rest of his life."

(Time out)

If some of you don't get this I'll tell you.

**okami-chigo-shinsei ****– Is that by order of you, your family, or the consual you are forced to marry the number of people chosen and all the canadets or ones that have bean chosen are to be chosen in a year or it can be exile or execution(Not many people do this put can be done to the weak and anti-social clan head heirs) The yodamie did this because it was the only way that he could publicly marry**** Kushina**** (The village hates her) but he died before he could state how it was that was to soon be his wife so now Naruto has to have this on his shoulders.(I made it up OK. Because i needed to fit the harem in OK.)**

**(Time in)**

"Yes but he will have to or he can face the consequences himself."

The old man knew what they could do if he did not comply to this so in the end he knew that Naruto would have to go throw with this life.

"How long?" was all that came out of his mouth

"4 months."

Sarutobi knew that was short but their was no arguing to be done now so he asked his next ?

"And how many?"

"8"

"WHAT!!" Sarutobi had only heard of a number above 3 when the Uhciha needed more males the family.

They really where trying to make his life hell or have him killed

"But it will only start after the finals for the Chunin exams." he stated saying that that was that.

"All in favor raise your hands."

the whole of the rooms hands came up and Sarutobi knew that the life Naruto knew was soon to be over.

* * *

Naruto was sanding outside the door and yelled "Holy cheese crackers." but only he could hear it.

He had come to see the old man and was only in his ninja gear but was wearing a shirt the on the front said ******"Sorry - yesterday was the deadline for all complaints." ****  
**

All he knew was that he needed 8 wives. 8 WIVES!! and he only had 4 months after the chunin exams to find them and court them. Wow was his life complicated.

* * *

yo everyone

**Fem Gaara-54**

**Temari-61**

**Fem Neji-53**

**Fem Kyuubi-57**

Parings so far (Yes I know some of them are weird but most of the are side parings anyway and all remaining girls will be put with a dude)

ShinoXKiba (Yes yaoi)

KankXRPC or and OC

IrukaXShsz

KakaXAnko

LeeXHinabi(In this she has been made Hinata's younger twin sister and yes I can do that in a fanfiction)

ShikaXIno

ChojiXAyame

AsumaXKurenai

SasuXSaku

NarutoXHakuXHinataXTentenXTemariXFemKyuubiXFemGaaraXFemNejiXMaybe you

Maybe you is the fact that the first person to answer this right will be added as an OC in this story

Rules:

? must be answered

and you can give me a name and picture for the person (Name is a Must.)

The riddle is

**A dead man is found in a locked room, hanging from the ceiling 4 ft. above the floor. The room is completely empty, except for a puddle of water below him. How did he die?**

I know it has nothing to do with naruto but I found it funny that my 3 per. class no one got it and I want at lest a team of rpc's and if you like to have your's in anser bye.


	5. Redone 1

Hello People.

No it's not a new chapter but I am going to update.

I have changed the story a bit to keep up with the new chapters of the manga.

I am updating each chapter before I put up the newest chapter.

So when you see a new chapter of the story it's actually just a note for you to read a past chapter.

So I ask that all of you Reread chapter 1.

Thanks so much for the reviews.

I hope I don't disappoint you.

**

* * *

**

_**Parings so far:**_

* * *

**ShinoXKiba**

**KankuroXMatsuri**

**IrukaXShizune**

**KakashiXAnko**

**ShikamaruXIno**

**ChojiXAyame**

**AsumaXKurenai**

**KonoharmaruXHinabi**

**Naruto X Temari X Fem Haku X Hinata X Fem Gaara X Tenten X Fem Neji X OC  
**

**LeeXSakura**

**SasukeXOC**


End file.
